This year marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of many concentration camps including Dachau and Auschwitz. But as with so many events in history, do we remember? Do we remember how Hitler rose to power, and how so many people were coerced into killing millions of their neighbors? Do we remember how easy it was for propaganda and slanted political ads to sway the votes of a nation?
As each week and each month pass, my heart breaks as I learn of more and more anti-Semitic acts of violence. There is Pittsburgh, Poway, Jersey City and New York City--all places which are now marred by heinous crimes against Jews. As we look across the ocean to Europe, they too have had a dramatic increase in violent crimes against Jews.
I could wonder why this is all happening, but it is not hard to understand. It is lack of education. In a recent poll, 66% of millennials did not know what Auschwitz was! We have failed. We have failed to teach our children the importance of respect. We have failed to teach each generation the atrocities which occur when we do not love our neighbor as our self.
Although we may not individually be able to change the world, we can change the world around us. Comfort those in time of mourning, lend to others expecting nothing in return, extend charity to someone in need. The darkness in this world is great, but we can bring light into the world with acts of kindness.
"Do not let kindness and truth leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart." (Proverbs 3:3)
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