MAKING THIS A

attempt to kill all the Jews in the Persian
Empire and she sends one of her attendants,
Hathach, to her relative Mordecai to learn
ma ze Val ma ze
"what is this and why is
this"? The Jews enjoyed freedom and liberty
in the Persian Empire. There was no appar-
ent anti-Jewish prejudice. The king had mar-
ried a Jewish woman and did not even exam-
ine her lineage. Mordecai was in an apparent
high political position. But the threat of
destruction of the Jews came anyway and
Esther was bewildered.
Nor was Esther the only one. In his autobio-
graphical novel, Gates of the Forest, Elie Wiese'
describes how he could not bring himself
to recite Kaddich after watching his
'` father die in the camps. He had been
taught that when a parent dies you
recite Kaddish, but he could not do
that. Later, he did recite the Kaddish
and he described the experience as "that
solemn affirmation filled with grandeur
and serenity by which man returns to
God His crown and His scepter."

—

T

his week we remember broken glass. Nov.
9-10 marks the 62nd anniversary of
Kristallnarht, "the Night of Broken Glass," and
this is not a happy remembrance. How can we
be happy when remembering the burning of
192 synagogues, the desecration of Sfei Torah,
the 7,500 Jewish-owned shops that were loot-
ed, the 171 apartments in which Jews lived
being set afire and of the 36 Jews who were
killed (as recorded in the 1983 book A

American consulate for exit
visas for the entire family.

family went directly to New
York, then joined her older
brother who had settled in
Atlanta.
A Way Out
Wildstrom soon found she
Shortly after Kristallnacht,
had left the anti-Semitism of
Wildsrrom became one of four
Germany only to face discrim-
student nurses at the Jewish hos-
ination toward blacks in the
pital in Furth, the only Jewish
South.
hospital within 200 miles.
"It was the law of the land,
We did every-
and maybe we
On Kristallnacht,
thing b* worked in
were too self-
Jewish homes, stores
the operating
absorbed to really
and synagogues were
room, tended to
realize when you
vandalized in Nazi
the patients,
went on the bus a
Germany and Austria. sign said, 'Whites
changed the linens
and scrubbed the
sit from front to
floors," she said. "The hospital
back and coloreds sit from
was overflowing because of all
back to front,'" she said. "At
the injuries during
that time, I didn't understand
Kristallnacht. We had people
the scope of what the South
thrown out windows and
was doing to the blacks."
down stairs. They were really
Her brothers still live in
seriously injured. But most of
Atlanta. Wildstrom married in
these people came from
1945, and moved to Detroit
Nuremburg."
where her husband managed a
By the end of 1939, her par- Federal's Department Store
ents had to leave their apart-
until his death in 1980.
ment for a "Jew House," a
Wildstrom went back to
nine-room apartment with
Furth three years ago for the
eight other couples.
dedication of a memorial
After several attempts to
plaque in the Jewish cemetery
emigrate, her family finally
to Jews who perished at the
boarded the last ship to sail
hands of the Nazis. Wildstrom
from Portugal carrying Jewish
recognized many family mem-
immigrants on Aug. 20, 1941.
bers and friends among the
Her grandmother, who didn't
868 names on the plaque.
have the proper papers, stayed
Condominiums now occupy
behind with a brother. The
the square where the four syn-
grandmother died in 1942, a
agogues once stood in Furth.
day before she was to be
In the center is a small stone
deported. The brother died in
Kristallnacht memorial sculp-
the camps.
ture by a Japanese artist. It
Jews on the ship without
bears a Hebrew inscription
entry visas were taken to New
translated into German: "Here
York's Ellis Island, but ended
is where the synagogues stood.
up in Trinidad or Cuba,
This should never happen
Wildstrom said. The Spiegel
again."

:

❑

Kristallnacht Reader: Essays and
e-
Addresses by Rabbi Jacob Shrull).
The Nazis rationalized Kristallnacht
as the spontaneous response to an
incident that had taken place two
days earlier in Parris on Nov. 7, 1938,
when a Jewish teenager, age 17, assas-
sinated a German diplomat. This inci-
dent was the excuse for Nazis to carry
out a pre-planned pogrom. In some
ways, Kristallnacht was the beginning
God's Influence
of the end of European Jewry as the
major Jewish community in the
RABBI H E RBERT We remember Kristallnacht. As we
YOSKO WITZ
recall the despair associated with this
world.
Special to the
commemoration, we realize that we
Kristallnacht was the night of bro-
Jewish P. 'etas
need God more than ever. That was
ken windowpanes lying in the street.
the meaning of Elie Wiesel's Kaddish.
It was the night of fire and flame. The
We need God more than ever in a generation
bloody aftermath of Kristallnacht was the
that experienced Kristallnacht and is surprised
unprecedented six million Jewish dead, which
when large segments of the world's nations
has damaged the psyche of the Jewish people
turn against the Jewish people.
and of the entire world. To many Jews who
We need, too, to remember what our mis-
survived Kristallnacht and the Shoah, there
sion is in the world. Jews maintain a basic
was a feeling of a love rejected and a dream
optimism that the world is fixable and that,
thwarted. So many German Jews loved
in
the long run, right will prevail. Until that
Germany; so many saw it as theirlerusalem."
time, we Jews remember the Kristallnachts
One of the great leaders of German Jewry,
of our history. Rather than let it lead us to
Rabbi Leo Baeck, spoke the following words
despair, it leads us to the resolve to persevere
in 1952, "I loved Germany so deeply that
and not to give in, to be the fixers of a world
my heart could break; I loved not only her
in need of moral and ethical correction.
people, her language, and her culture, but
The recollection of Kristallnacht should moti-
her landscape as well, In no other place are
vate
us to plan, to labor and to build a healthy
the fields so green, nowhere else the air so
vigorous
Jewish life, which will be invincible
sweet, but now ... no longer is this land my
against the onslaughts of any enemy of the Jews.
land. It has become completely foreign to
Most Jewish marriage ceremonies end with
me. My Germany is gone forever."
the groom breaking a glass or a light bulb
wrapped in a cloth. The sound of broken
Remember The History
glass captures everyone's attention. Breaking
the glass before leaving the chupah where the
While Germany is not the home for Jews as
rings have been exchanged, is a reminder that
it once was, and while there are attempts to
clouds
darken our horizons. We acknowledge
revive German Jewry at this time, we should
the
broken
glass even at the most joyous
not forget the history of German Jewry.
moment
in
the lives of two people.
What led to the end of the love of Germany
We break the glass to remember, too, that
in the hearts of so many Jews, on the night
it is easy to love when all goes well but Our
known as Kristallnacht?
love can shine even brighter when clouds
Kristallnacht was bewildering. So many
darken our horizons. When clouds do
Jews had earned highest commendation in
fighting for Germany during World War I. So appear we need to remind ourselves of our
duty to Jewish creative survival. We will
many Jews had contributed to the culture of
never again allow ourselves to be victims. We
Germany. In a book called Weimer by Peter
will
live in faith whether we experience the
Gay, though the word Jew is not mentioned
best of our history or the worst. During the
once, about half of the people contributing to
Nazi period, a Jew in hiding scrawled these
the success of the period in Germany known
words on the wall: "I believe in the sun even
as Weimer (1918 - 1933) are Jewish.
when it is not shining, I believe in love even
There were other times in history when
when not feeling it, I believe in God even
Jewish people have anticipated that the free-
when He is silent." God needs us for the
dom and liberty that they enjoyed in their
repair of the brokenness of creation.
countries would continue forever. The story
Kristallnacht reminds us of a period in histo-
of Purim demonstrated this belief. At one
ry
when creation was most broken. We should
point, Queen Esther is bewildered by the
meet such times with the determination to be
Rabbi Herbert A. Yoskowitz is a spiritual
true to ourselves and to be partners with God
leader at Adat Shalom Synagogue.
to make this a better world. Ei

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