BETH TORAH TIMES WINTER EDITION -Nov-Dec 2018

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3
RABBI ROJZMAN MESSAGE
There are lots of Nazis in Pennsylvania, There are
lots of Nazis right here in Florida.
They were getting ready apparently to have a Bris, a
Bris that never took place. We had a baby naming.
So I decided that I wanted to talk to that baby who
did not have a Bris, because babies sometimes
understand more than adults.
I will call him “baby” because I don’t know his
name (he wasn’t able to receive one that day)
but brilliantly Zev Steinberg tried to think of a
name. For those of you who may have seen this, I
apologize in advance.
Little boy, what’s your name – do you have one?
Sweet baby, just eight days, what should we call
you?
Is your name Shalom? We long for peace in this
troubled world. I hope you are Shalom.
Is your name Nachum? Oh, how we need to be
comforted in our grief. I hope you are Nachum.
Is your name Raphael? Our broken hearts and
bleeding souls need healing. I hope you are
Raphael.
Is your name Moshe? Our unbearable anguish and
rage demands justice. I hope you are Moshe.
Is your name Ariel? We need the ferocious strength
of lions to protect our people. I hope you are Ariel.
Is your name Barak? We need courageous warriors
to vanquish our enemies. I hope you are Barak.
Is your name Simcha? We need an end to sadness
by bringing joy into our world. I hope you are
Simcha.
Is your name Yaron? We need an end to mourning
by bringing song into our lives. I hope you are
Yaron.
Is your name Matan? We need the gift of children
who will bring a better tomorrow. I hope you are
Matan.
You know baby, you should have been carried high
into the congregation on Shabbat morning - past
from loving hands to loving hands - on a cushioned
pillow to receive your Jewish name. Instead your
elders fell and were carried out on stretchers in
plastic bags. Their names on tags.
So little boy, what’s your name? Take them all if you
will. Take a thousand names. Be Peace and Comfort and
Healing. Be Justice and Strength and Courage. Be Joy
and Song and a Gift to the world. Be every good name
and every good thing.
Baby, you are joining an amazing civilization. One that
teaches humanity that God is one and only one. That
every person is created in his image and cannot even
infer that he is better than the other. A civilization
that maintains that we need to take care of widows,
orphans and strangers.
And yet “bechol dor vador”, in every generation there
were and there will be people ready to kill us.
A week from today we will commemorate the 80th
anniversary of Kristallnacht, the night of the “Broken
Glass” where Nazis torched synagogues. Kristallnacht
was the beginning of the end for the Jews of Germany
After Kristallnacht, Germans did not come to help
the Jews clean up. Quite the contrary, the Jews were
forced to pay for all the damage as the Germans
claimed they had brought it on themselves!
You know baby, when you heard all the screaming,
you also heard the screaming of 2 police officers and
2 S.W.A.T team officers as they worked to stop the
murderer.They risked their lives as well.
Never after a pogrom did non-Jews help the Jews to
recover, but this is America.
Listen Baby: A group called Muslims Unite for
Pittsburgh Synagogue held a fundraiser. Listen to the
words of Wasi Mohamed, from the Islamic Center of
Pittsburgh. He told the crowd at the fundraiser that
their work is not finished with the fundraiser alone. He
said: “We just want to know what you need.”
That’s America at its best!
Like Rabbi Wolberg wrote, “Pittsburgh also reminded
us of Jews at their best.” Most of those Jews who
were killed were elderly. They were that synagogue’s
minyonaires … they came every day to ensure that
there was a minyan to say kaddish. We have people
like that at Beth Torah! Every synagogue has people
like that … people who honestly believe and live by
the words: “Kol Yisroel areivim zeh la zeh – all Jews are
responsible one for another.” There are plenty of Jews
who live by those words.
44 BETH TORAH TIMES