Love Yehuda
From Rabbi Lamb
My father and my wife's mother both turn 90. Not that unusual in the twenty first century when miracle drugs and modern hygiene contribute remarkably to longevity. But remarkable, nevertheless, in this instance. Both are holocaust survivors.
My father was a teenager when the Nazis murdered his parents in front of his eyes. He lost his two brothers and three sisters in the horrors of the death camps. Miraculously escaping the camp by smuggling guns in, he spent the rest of his teenage years fighting Nazis as a partisan in the forests of Poland. There he befriended a young man in the Polish resistance who was destined to become Pope John Paul II.
My mother-in-law also lost her parents and family. Interned in Auschwitz she survived four years in a living hell under the medical scrutiny of the devil Mengele. This indescribable ordeal would have broken the will of many a lesser person – and did. But here she is with 12 grandchildren and more than double great grandchildren - continuing to deny Hitler a posthumous victory. The meaning of evil and pain defies human understanding. But the existential condition verifies the power of resilience, the search for meaning - noble quests that drive the human to unheard feats of wonder and survival. Victor Frankl enunciated this elusive driver of human endurance in terms of love of life and people. Such positive spin on his own years of incarceration under the vile swastika, testifies to the mystery that lies at the core of human endeavor – the power of the soul.
These two heroes have lived over seventy years beyond their living hell. Yet the nightmares continue to haunt and intrude with endless torture - a death by a thousand cuts. But they continue to inspire future generations, their living memory continuing to give birth to infinite hope and aspiration.
Their life partners, my mother and father-in-law, were war heroes as well. Unfortunately they succumbed earlier in life. Nevertheless, each was the source of drive that willed life into these two nonagenarians.
My wife and I are children of survivors. The survivors bear witness. Their children are living testament. Our obligation is to become moral sentinels, standing guard at the steps of world morality, constantly reminding the nations of the twisted mind, corrosive heart and toxic spirit that is the ever potential of a soulless man. Our obligation is to ensure - Never Again.
--
Visit my Blog: http://yehudalave.blogspot.com
or http://www.yehudalave.com/
--
Visit my Blog: http://yehudalave.blogspot.com
or http://www.yehudalave.com/
