Jewish Cultural Club led a Morning Meeting for Holocaust Remembrance on January 24th. The Morning Meeting focused primarily on my family’s story and went over the history of the Holocaust and its modern day implications.
It is important to me that we conduct these types of events, for every affinity group, to understand their history and culture. For the Jewish people, the Holocaust is one of the most important modern day events, with implications for our lives even today. Notably, generational trauma affects the descendants of Holocaust survivors and anti-semitism continues to harm Jewish people.
This Morning Meeting is an important step in ensuring that the Holocaust isn’t forgotten – or denied – within the DSST community as Holocaust survivors continue to age and the Holocaust itself becomes a distant memory. However, the stories of Holocaust survivors remain pertinent, and it is important we continue to tell their stories, which is why I chose to tell the story of my grandmother and great-grandparents.
It was very meaningful for me to see how my family story impacted and educated others. I am glad we were able to have this presentation, despite the Morning Meeting having to be virtual, because anti-semitism remains an important concern.
In a very recent example of anti-semitism, on January 15, 2022, a man invaded Saturday morning services and took four people hostage, including the Rabbi leading services. He said he would release the hostages if a convicted terrorist was released from prison, reflecting the anti-semitic trope that Jews exert control over world governments and events.
This recent hostage situation isn’t an isolated incident, but rather reflects a long term trend. In 2020, Jews were the religious group in the US most likely to be targeted by hate crimes, with 638 attacks. In 2019, the year in which the most such hate crimes were ever recorded against Jews, there were 953 reported hate crimes against Jews, which is over 60% of the total hate crimes committed that year.
After major attacks, like the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Coloradan faith communities have come together and supported each other. It is critical that we continue to do so, and not allow hate to divide us.
Actions that reflect an insensitivity for the horror of the Holocaust are not only outright crimes. For example, a Tennessee school district banned the book Maus, which depicts one family’s experience in the Holocaust, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. This action reflects a lack of cultural awareness of the importance of the Holocaust, and does so very ironically (on a day we are meant to remember the Holocaust, they banned a book about it).
When hate occurs against one group, hate against other groups often follow, so in the future, hopefully we can stand united against hate. This is the Restorative Committee’s goal as we work to increase equity and inclusivity in the school. These efforts have been exemplified in morning meetings that different affinity groups have presented, like the recent Holocaust Morning Meeting.