Bo: The Power of Collective Memory

This year, I have the privilege of participating in the Amplify Israel Rabbinical Fellowship. The group consists of 25 rabbis ordained in the last 15 years serving in different rabbinical roles across the United States and Canada. Since I was educated and ordained in Israel, it is a great opportunity for me to create new connections with people doing similar work. The fellowship’s primary goals are strengthening the participants' connection to the Jewish People and Israel and providing us with tools to be even stronger advocates for the Jewish People. One of the highlights of this experience was the seven days we spent together in Israel over winter break. 

We had the honor of meeting some truly exceptional people. Some of them experienced the terror of October 7th on the front lines. At the site of the Nova massacre we heard from Sgt. Remo Hozayal, a Bedouin police officer who saved more than 300 people on October 7th. We toured the ruins of one of the neighborhoods of Kibbutz Kfar Aza and heard from residents and advocates as they begin the painful and empowering process of rebuilding. One of those residents, Liora Eilon, whose son Tal was killed on October 7th, shared that in spite of it all, she will dedicate the rest of her life to working towards peace. In the small town of Shlomit on the Egyptian border we met Michael Gottesman who, together with seven members of the local defense team, made the heart-wrenching decision to leave their families when they heard that a nearby community had been infiltrated by terrorists with no one to defend it. Michael was severely wounded and two of his comrades were killed. And they were able to save four families - more than 20 people - from grievous harm, kidnapping, or both at the hands of Hamas terrorists. 

Our group also had the opportunity to hear from people whose deeds and experiences were far from the front lines on and after October 7th, but have contributed to Israel in incalculable ways. A mental health expert walked us through the ongoing trauma that millions of Israelis are dealing with and the even larger number that will deal with post-traumatic stress in the years to come; the needs for mental and spiritual counseling are immense and there are incredible breakthroughs being made in this field by Israeli researchers all the time. Israeli Reform rabbis from all over the country shared with us their experiences serving their community members through two years of war. They spoke about the immense emotional toll the war took on their member families together with the challenge of being a care provider while also experiencing the same fears. We also heard, most powerfully for me, from Dr. Cochav Elkayam-Levy, who has taken on the task of collecting and organizing all of the testimonies and evidence of the sexual crimes committed on October 7th. She has raised a Jewish, Israeli voice on behalf of women at the United Nations and her work will serve as crucial evidence in dozens of criminal cases that will begin against Hamas this year across three different continents. 

It was a whirlwind of a week. Even now, two weeks later, I am not sure precisely how to summarize everything we experienced. But I do know I left Israel and returned to New York and JCP with three primary takeaways. First, I am so proud to be a Jew and an Israeli citizen. For two years, regular people were called to serve in irregular ways and they fulfilled their mission with poise and grace - to be a part of the Jewish People is one of the great blessings of my life. Second, the underlying message from everyone who spoke with us is a commitment to rebuilding a nation even stronger than it was before. Regardless of political, religious, or ethnic identity, every Israeli with whom we interacted is committed to creating a country that is safer and more prosperous for all its citizens. Third, I was blown away by the deeply Jewish instinct to translate loss and memory from the personal realm to the collective. This is best illustrated by the transformation of public spaces - squares, street signs, train stations, airport control towers - into sites of memory for those we have lost:

In this week’s Torah portion, Bo, God explains to Moses why God is unleashing plagues upon Egypt. They are, of course, meant to convince Pharaoh to free the Israelites. But we learn that they also serve a grander purpose. God tells Moses that the plagues are meant to be an experience that Jews through the ages “may recount in the hearing of your child and of your child’s child…” (Exodus 10:2). The plagues are bigger than a means by which the Israelites will leave Egypt; they serve as one thread in the delicate tapestry that we call collective memory. 

The importance of Jewish collective memory has become evident over the last two and a half years. The two largest Jewish communities in the world live two continents, one ocean, and one sea away from each other. They speak different languages and have vastly different life experiences. Yet, what touches us here in North America affects our Israeli brothers and sisters and what happens in the Middle East profoundly affects us, as well. This week’s Torah portion clarifies our lived experience of the last two years: holding onto our collective memory, our shared story as Jews regardless of geographical location, is part and parcel to our strength as a people and ability to thrive into the future. 

Our role, as I understand it, is to engage in the Israeli Jewish story and see ourselves as part of it. To be able to tell the story of who we are as a people, where we come from, and all that has brought us through these past two years can serve as another layer of collective memory, just as the ten plagues have for the last more than two millennia. 

I look forward to engaging in the act of strengthening collective memory together. 

Shabbat Shalom!