On the Occasion of the 95th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide

We have found each other, after all these years,
and with a shock of recognition.
We have come to know each other’s collective angers and despair,
the horrors of those who tortured both our peoples,
burned their bodies,
sent innocents into the desert without bread or water,
disfigured the bodies of men and women created in God’s image,
turned bodies into fleshless skeletons,
burned their homes, broke the windows of their sanctuaries,
left abandoned the graveless.

We have come to know the carnage in each other’s lives,
the despair over the callous bystanders,
with eyes that will not see,
ears that would not hear,
mouths that remain mute,
legs that dare not stand,
arms that would not embrace the frail and lift up the fallen.

We have come to know each other better now.
We have become more than mourners to each other.
We have become each other’s comforters.

How shall we console each other?
How would we honor the memories of our martyred?
How do we resurrect hope?
Open a window for mutual understanding.

The wall of world silence must be broken. The moral toxins and poisons must be drained. For this, the world needs heroes. Especially heroes from the other side. Blacks need white heroes; whites need black heroes; Palestinians need Israeli heroes; Israelis need Palestinian heroes; Armenians need Turkish heroes; Turks need Armenian heroes.

Why from the other side? To demonstrate that people are not alone, that we have allies from the other side, and that genocide is not an Armenian affair or a Jewish affair or a Darfurian affair or a Congolese affair. The character of genocidal tragedy transcends borders, language, cultures. The mass murder of one race or one faith or one people or one ethnicity is not a parochial matter. It is a matter of cosmic significance. 

The Armenian Genocide that occurred almost 100 years ago must not be left to Armenian texts or Armenian private memories alone. It must be written, studied and remembered in the history books of humanity. 

Amnesia destroys the moral memory of civilization. Amnesia of genocidal tragedy means that we will not learn. What happened in history must seep into the collective conscience of our civilization. 

We need heroes from the other side for the sake of our children and our children’s children. Children need to know. As the Roman author Cicero put it, “Not to know what happened before you were born is to remain forever a child.” We are not children, and we must not pretend that we do not know. Genocide is the contagious torture of human blood and flesh, starvation, rape and humiliation. 

One of the contemporary heroes of conscience from the other side, who the community is invited to hear, is the Turkish teacher, journalist and author, professor Taner Akçam, who at personal risk dared to speak early, write and research the Armenian genocide. His continued pleas have touched the sensibilities of many people and have awakened the awareness of a slumbering world. 

J. Michael Hagopian, the celebrated filmmaker, is an Armenian witness to the genocide and will present his documentary, “The River Ran Red,” the evening of Akçam’s presentation. Jewish World Watch invites the community to an evening of courage, conscience and compassion at 7 p.m. May 6 at Valley Beth Shalom, 15739 Ventura Blvd., Encino.

Harold M. Schulweis is rabbi at Congregation Valley Beth Shalom in Encino and founder of Jewish World Watch.