From the Rabbis Study: Remember, Together

Next Tuesday marks the end of our Holy Day season. We draw the final gates closed with the words of Yizkor. Yizkor is a powerful moment. It is hard to remember and yet, cathartic. To be called together to remember those we have lost is, as my colleague Rabbi Jaime Gibson shares, an act of courage.

He writes that It demands that our hearts not paralyze our feet; that our eyes release our tears; that our hands open to accept the pain of remembrance instead of clenching into fists.

Our sanctuary, already holy with prayers and Torah, becomes suffused with the holiness of memory, the memories of hundreds of us who gather our courage, take a deep breath and enter. Yizkor is the fusion of holy space with holy time, sacred tears with sacred recollection of love.

For our parents, our children, our siblings, our partners, our families and our friends we sit in quiet awe, waiting for that moment when the tears will come, the salty drops that cleanse our souls at Yizkor.

Four times a year we gather for this act. And while we remember every day in some way, being forced to gather together in our sacred space, makes these moments even more powerful. We are driven to recall, to share, to shed tears, to support each other.

May none of us enter this holy moment alone. May we be fortified with companionship of the living and the remembrance of the dead who are never far
from us. May this moment defeat death itself through the enduring power of love and memory to bring our beloveds to life, if only for these moments.

Please join us in the Chapel at Temple Beth Sholom on Tuesday, September 28 at 10:30am as we remember … together … for a blessing.

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