Never Again Rings Hollow

We just celebrated Passover where a main theme is to remember what happened to the Jews thousands of years ago. It extends a transgenerational chain to teach our children and grand children about the exodus of the Jews from slavery into freedom. We also recite at the Seder that it is not just one nation a long time ago that rose up to destroy us but in every generation there will be an entity bent on our destruction. We relive our past to teach us and awaken us to our future.

We also just passed Yom Hashoah, Holocaust remembrance day where the main slogan is Never Again. We teach our children and the world about our experiences in Nazi Germany. We have ceremonies to pay tribute to those who perished and listen to survivors who give us testimonial to the shocking atrocities they lived through. We remember what man can do to his neighbors given the circumstances. We learn of the few righteous gentiles but also of the many complicit gentiles as well as the majority that remained silent.

After these two important holidays have passed and as powerful as these remembrances are, I feel a certain lacking in our (Jewish) response to these historical events.

We talk, we teach, we sing, we remember, but the glaring deficiency is what are we doing in the area of prevention. Words and memories are important but where is the action taking place to defend against the certain next attack against on the Jews. And I am referring to diaspora Jews, not Israelis. We cannot rely on words alone to prevent the next attack and we Jews should know better than anyone that when the time comes there will be NO ONE to protect us. We only have ourselves to protect us yet we do almost nothing.

How many times do we need to learn the same lessons until we understand that we must prepare ourselves better. Can we rely on the government? our local police? our courts? our non-Jewish neighbors? the constitution? How will the Jews defend themselves? Which Jews will be there when the time comes to defend us? Will the words of Jewish lawyers and Jewish politicians mean anything? The answer is maybe. In any case we must learn to defend ourselves.

We are extremely complacent living in this country (USA). These words seem radical to most Jewish Americans who can never envision attacks against us in the land of liberty. We must learn from our Israeli brothers and sisters that words are important but actions and preparedness are critical parts of the equation.