A Season of Renewal
At Touro Synagogue
April 6, 2019
also on facebook
Last Saturday at Touro Synagogue I was startled to hear Rabbi Marc Mandel begin his words of Torah with, “When we picked up our son at Logan Airport on his way home from Israel, we stopped in Boston. I was looking at a newspaper when I saw Aaron Ginsburg’s picture on the front page. Aaron had written an article for the Boston Jewish Advocate.”
It is always nice to be mentioned at Touro Synagogue. The funny thing about the picture is that the editor of the paper decided he didn’t like it, and asked me for a new shot.
Rabbi Mandel continued,
“Thank you to Aaron Ginsburg for writing a front page article in the Boston Jewish Advocate newspaper about the desecration of the Fall River Hebrew Cemetery. We have a copy of the paper if anyone wants to see it.
“In the article Aaron wrote, ‘The damage to the stones reflects the damage to our hearts. Both will be repaired. But both the stones and our hearts will remember.’
“Thank you Aaron for writing this article and for creating a Jewish Fall River Facebook group.
“This week we took out three Torahs; it’s a rarity. The theme of this Shabbat is renewal. Rosh Chodesh is a new month and today is Shabbat Hachodesh. Hadosh means new. Pesach is a holiday of renewal.
“When you see a friend you say, “Ma Hodosh?” What’s new? Unfortunately, antisemitism is not new. It has been around a long time. But why the sudden increase??
“According to a recent article in the New York Times, in today’s political world, antisemitism is an ideology where the far right can intersect with the far left.
“After WWII and the Holocaust, antisemitism was mostly found within the political fringes, which is no longer the case. So as we enter a new month and a new season of freedom, we find new dangers and new challenges for the Jewish people around the world. Previously we mentioned Aaron’s family at the cemetery in Fall River. There was news this week of another cemetery.
“This one was in Israel, where Zacky Baumel, an Israeli soldier whose body was missing for 37 years-was returned this week and buried. He was 21 when he died in the Lebanon war. He was buried in Jerusalem’s Mt Herzl military cemetery.
“And so, as we observe Rosh Chodesh Nisan, the month of redemption, let us hope and pray that it will truly be a month of redemption for Jews all over the world, and that the holiday of our freedom will help spread the ideas of freedom around the world.”
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| l-r Reps Jason Knight and Rebecca Kislak, Charlie Bakst, Rep Mia Ackerman, and Aaron Ginsburgphoto: William White |
There is a sequel to the Hebrew cemetery desecration. On Thursday March 28, I was invited by a Pokross cousin, Rebecca Kislak, a member of the House of the Rhode Island Assembly to attend a session. We met, for the first time, at Sydney Coffee. After Rebecca gave me a brief tour of the State House, the short session began. A colleague of Rebecca’s, Representative Jason Knight, introduced a resolution condemning both the desecration of the Hebrew Cemetery and antisemitism in general,
“RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations hereby honors the memory of those at the Hebrew Cemetery and stands united in rejecting and condemning these vile and intolerable acts of anti-Semitism and hatred...”
Rebecca spoke next about being personally affected by the desecration of the Pokross family stones, and then introduced Charlie Bakst, who grew up in Fall River, and is a member of the Horvitz family, and me to a standing House. After a brief interlude about quahogs, the resolution passed unanimously. The House graciously provided a video, sans clams!
Among the visitors on Shabbat was Rabbi Yael Romer of Congregation Emanuel of the Hudson Valley, Kingston, NY and her husband with a group of Hebrew School students.
At kiddish Rabbi Romer said that as a reform rabbi, “Touro Synagogue is the only Orthodox synagogue where I feel fully welcome.”
That message turned a season of renewal into a season of joy, and of pride in our congregation and rabbi.
video is at https://youtu.be/TO6W8gpza1E
Thank you to Capital TV for the video and picture, and to Beth Ginsburg Levine for editing.
2019 -- H 5927
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2019 ____________
HOUSE RESOLUTION
CONDEMNING THE HATEFUL DEFACING OF GRAVESTONES AT THE HEBREW CEMETERY IN FALL RIVER, MASSACHUSETTS
Introduced By: Representatives Knight, Kislak, Ackerman, Filippi, and Shekarchi Date Introduced: March 28, 2019
Referred To: House read and passed
WHEREAS, In the 1950s and 1960s, Fall River had a strong, vibrant, and visible Jewish community connected to the textile industry; and
WHEREAS, As loved ones passed, many were interred at the 300-plot Hebrew cemetery on McMahon Street in Fall River; and
WHEREAS, Overnight, on Saturday, March 16th into Sunday, March 17th, 2019, 59 gravestones at the Hebrew cemetery were defaced with vicious and cruel anti-Semitic language and swastikas, and others were brutally toppled; and
WHEREAS, This anti-Semitic malevolent attack was not only an affront on the memories of the families of those buried at the cemetery, but was a hate crime perpetrated against all Jewish people, and an assault to humanity; and
WHEREAS, Anti-Semitism in any form breeds violence and is eminently sad, disrespectful, and unconditionally condemnable; now, therefore be it
RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations hereby honors the memory of those at the Hebrew Cemetery and stands united in rejecting and condemning these vile and intolerable acts of anti-Semitism and hatred; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to Jeffrey Weissmann, President of Congregation Adas Israel, Stephen Silverman, President of Temple Beth El, and Robert Trestan, Director of the Anti-Defamation League of New England.
@RIHouseofReps @tourosynagoguenewport
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