Earlier this week, JFEDLA co-hosted L.A. Remembers: October 7th at the Saban Theatre. Thousands of in-person guests, as well as thousands more online, joined 35 elected leaders and consuls general from 16 countries to honor the lives lost during the most heinous massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and to commemorate the strength and unity of our community.
A year ago, I stood on the bima during our community vigil with Jewish leaders and clergy in a house of mourning. We were reeling in bewilderment over the events that had occurred less than a day before. None of us would have thought that we would be here a year later, with over 1,000 murdered on October 7th, over 10,000 wounded, and nearly 70,000 Israelis displaced. None of us could imagine that there would be over 100 hostages remaining in dungeons and tunnels.
As I shared the other night at our commemoration, memory is a powerful, almost alchemical force. Memory is like an accordion; it can collapse the space between present and past, giving us a few precious moments to feel as though we are spending time with loved ones we have lost. When we retell their stories, when we see videos of them singing on our phones, when we see the smile of a child that looks just like them, we feel close to the victims. It is as if they live again with us, even for just a few moments.
Memory also helps us clarify our values and put them into action. In the Torah, the commandment to remember is issued over 100 times.
Remember Creation. Remember the Exodus. Remember what it means to be a stranger. Remember the Sabbath.
Through memory, we come to know who we are as Jews and as people. This past year, we mobilized the greatest support network for Israel in our history. In Los Angeles alone, we raised nearly $40 million to support victims with food and shelter, open schools, build bomb shelters, deliver mental health treatments, and distribute small business loans. We hosted rallies and marches. We fought for Jewish life on campus, at city hall, and in boardrooms.
Nationally, the Federation system raised nearly $1 billion to support Israelis in crisis. According to the Israeli government, over half of all funds raised for helping in Israel came through the Federation system. The unprecedented tide of pain and trauma in Israel’s history was met with the equally overwhelming force of love. That’s because our global Jewish community remembers what it means to be in love with each other.
Saturday is Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, when we commit to taking an honest look inward. On the holiest day for our people, we recite one of our holiest prayers, yizkor, a ritual that happens only three other times throughout the entire year. Yizkor is a public commemoration of those who have passed. This year, yizkor will take on a deeper meaning because of the pain of the past year. Honoring the memory of those we have lost is an act of lovingkindness, one that has the power to reconnect us to our pure selves.
This is the alchemy of memory, of yizkor. It makes us time travelers. It transmutes despair into love. It converts sorrow into strength, darkness into light, and death into life again.
I hope the experience is meaningful for you and that more hopeful days are on the horizon for all of us.
G’mar Hatima Tova. May you be sealed for a better year.
R’ Noah
