Concluding Remarks - Kansas City Holocaust Commemoration - May 1, 2022

Yit’gadal V’Yitkadash - May the great name of the Eternal One be exalted and sanctified.   

 These words begin the Mourner’s Kaddish, the Kaddish Yatom.  

As we know, this prayer affirms life and God’s continuing presence with us, sustaining us in times of sorrow and challenge.  It expresses the hope that God will bestow upon us the gift of peace from the heights of heaven.

   Our gathering today reminds us that there are times when peace cannot overcome hatred in the human heart. 

   Yet we come together to proclaim that we will not give up on peace, on kindness, on compassion, on cooperation.   

     This coming Shabbat, synagogues outside Israel will read from Parashat Kedoshim.   It begins in Leviticus Chapter 19 with a passage that offers a message of how we can sanctify God’s name and our own lives through our actions.  It commands us to be holy, as God is holy, and it offers specific direction for how we can infuse holiness into community life:  

• Be generous with people in need. 
• Do not steal or deal deceitfully with one another.  
• Be honest in your work. 
• Practice justice.  Be careful with the words you speak. 
• Do not stand idly by if you witness injustice or the heartless taking of human life. 
• Do not hate another person in your heart, or bear an incurable grudge.  If a constructive comment might change unacceptable behavior, offer it with respect. 
• Revere your parents, and respect the most senior members of your community. 
• Love your neighbor as yourself, and, moreover, love the stranger among you as yourself, for you know the feelings of the stranger. 

    I have never understood why it is so difficult for so many people in the past and present to put into practice these  precepts from the Torah. 

    I do, however, realize that there are many people who  have demonstrated that understanding.  It is why the 27th of Nisan was designated as Yom Hashoah V’Hag’vurah, a Day for remembering the victims of the Shoah and the heroism of those who opposed the diabolical evil of their time.   Every person whom we remember today had some measure of bravery inside of them, and we may never know how many acted out of courage derived from the values of their heritage. 

   As we recite the Kaddish today, we remember. 

    We resolve to continue to offer a loving tribute to those whose lives we recall, to tell their stories, and to teach the lessons of the Shoah so that we will, in the future, act in a way that will bring holiness not only to the name of the Eternal One but also to the human family and to our lives together as one community.

Please rise as we join in reciting the kaddish.