Wednesday 7 May 2008

Yom Hashoah

So, after having a blog before blogs were even thought off - though it was called a web diary then (see Diary of a sofer on www.sofer.co.uk), I finally have a real blog thanks to the suggestion of my fiancee and world famous soferet Avielah Barclay.

But what to say? Usually on my website its all very considered and crafted but blogs are supposed to be immediate and very stream of consciousness. So here goes ...

Well my first post was about the tikkun for Megillat Hashoah and last week it was Yom Hashoah and I attended a service at New London Synagogue which was deeply moving The Megillat Hashoah was read in full (the first time I had seen this instead of excerpts) and the rabbi very kindly gave me the honour of reading a chapter. More importanty, there was a survivor there who held us all spellbound with her tale of the horrors she experienced. I won't report the details as I would not do it justice but suffice to say that of her family only her and her father (who joined the resistance) survived. It was incredibly moving and the bravery of that woman will stay with me for many many years. At the end of the service I gave her a copy of the tikkun as I had brought some with me to show the rabbi.

Interestingly enough that same day I had paid a very quick visit to the Czech scrolls museum in Kent House, Westminster. I had been there for a BT seminar - which was an odd thing to do at a shul - so nipped in afterwards after meeting up with Avielah. As well as the normal exhibits were a group of other sifrey in another room where I'd given a lecture once. The museum is being expanded and renovated so will hopefully go back there soon. There was a tiny torah about 10 inches high and some amazing atsey chayim on another. Amongst the exhibits themselves was a rolled torah that had been fused together from fire.

So very much a day for recalling the Shoah.

So the point of tday's blog? Well in part to tell people about my Yom Hashoah experience and in part to register a bit of surprise that the Megillat Hashoah hasn't caught on more. The Schechter Institute and Rabbinical Assembly brought it out quite a few years ago and I'm still amazed at how few people have either heard of it or have incorporated it into their commemorations. When Rabbi David Meyer approached me to create the scroll it was clear that he was trying to create a fresh impetus for this new piece of liturgy and to try and get people engaged in a new minhag.

Obviously I'm slightly biased, having invested so much time and effort into the text and creating the scroll and the tikkun, but putting the scroll aside, I am given to understand that over 1,400 rabbis 'signed up' to the text that appears in the booklet. No mean feat. So what is going wrong? Why aren't more synagogues adopting this? Do people not like the text? Do people prefer to create their own services? Do people want to read the book of Job (which I don't think is that appropriate as the pain and misery was caused by supernatural means as opposed to human cruelty)? Is it a 'not invented here' syndrome? Is it because it is viewed as American and we're British? But I'm told that a lot of Conservative shuls in Canada and the States haven't adopted it either. Or am I wrong and lots more people are using it every year and I'm just not aware?

If it isn't adopted widely it is potentially a great shame, as in decades to come when there are no survivors to bring to life the realities of the Shoah, it will be the power of words - whether ink on parchment or print on paper - that will be the core means of remembering. Yes there wil be pictures and video but in prayer and contemplation it is the word that will engage on a deep level.

If you're not familiar with the text then visit http://www.schechter.edu/news/media_030425_haaretz_shoahscroll.htm to order a copy of the booklet from the Rabbical Assembly. /Schechter Institute. The authorised tikkun is available at http://www.lulu.com/content/871367

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