I’ve been thinking about memory a lot lately.
Two pop culture juggernauts have recently used the concept of memory in thoughtful ways that are appropriate on this Shabbat. Before I get started, I promise that I’m not giving away any spoilers.
First, Avengers Endgame: In one scene, a character reflects on his previous destruction of exactly half of the world. He did this so that the world would have a kind of ‘do-over.’ But upon reflection, he realizes his plan will fail because there will always be people that remember the way the world used to be. The memory is enough for hope and healing.
Next, Game of Thrones. Elijah’s Bar Mitzvah service is tomorrow morning, so I don’t have time to get into proper detailed intricacies of this show, but I am happy to discuss any midrashic interpretations during the Oneg. Suffice it to say that one of the villains, the Night King, wants to destroy all of humanity. He has one particular target who is known as the Three-Eyed Raven. Please stay with me I’m almost finished, I promise. In a recent episode, he tells us why he is so important to the Night King - The Night King wants to destroy the world because I am its memory.
These examples remind us that memory is quite powerful. It gives us our values and the resolve to fight for our hopes and dreams. It tells us not only who we were, but who we are and who we will become.
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Israel is our home-land because it is the source of our Jewish memory. God commands Abraham to Lech L’cha on a journey toward Israel. All of the Israelites hear the proclamation of the Ten Commandments underneath Mt. Sinai. Moses sends leaders of the tribe to scout out this promised land of milk and honey.
All of us learn these stories. We consistently recite prayers that mention Israel like Hashkiveinu, which ends with Blessed are you, Adonai, who spreads your tabernacle of peace over us, and over God’s people and over Jerusalem. Israel is a central part of our memory. It’s so engrained into the fabric of our identity, in fact, that it is true even if you haven’t been to Israel.
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This week, we commemorate Israel’s Remembrance Day and we celebrate Israel’s Independence Day. We remember Israel.
Our challenge, however, is that we are now a community that has markedly different memories.
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Some of us remember the unabated passion of those early Zionists, putting into action Herzl’s claim that Im tirzu, ein zo aggadah, If you will it, it is not a dream. Some remember transforming a desert into an oasis of life, and hope. Some remember the absolute tragedy of the Holocaust, and the necessity of a Jewish homeland where all of our brothers and sisters might live in peace, free from persecution. We still have that dream. Some remember the heroism of the six-day war, with images of soliders at the Western Wall emblazoned upon our hearts.
And there are other memories too. For some, the current memory of the settlement occupation is troubling. We struggle with Israel’s treatment of liberal Jews, Jews that seek to observe Judaism in a different manner than the Orthodox stringencies set by the Chief Rabbinate. We struggle with Israel’s treatment of women, who get attacked and spit upon at the Western Wall. Some are worried by the current memory of a country struggling with its identity as both a democratic country and a Jewish safe-haven.
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This week is not a time to argue for one “memory” over another. But it is a time to realize that they are equally powerful, and equally true. We live in a time when it is not so simple to define what it means to “support Israel” or what it means to be “against Israel.” If I am virulently against the proliferation of Israeli Settlements in the West Bank, does that make me anti-Israel? If I feel a sense of spirituality and power at the Western Wall, does that mean that I’m not in solidarity with my female sisters who don’t have the option of feeling similarly? These are difficult questions that demand difficult conversations, and not the simple labeling of “pro” or “anti” as if they are boxes
to be checked.
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These memories that we have, these images that we hold in our mind ... they don’t only keep us connected to Israel. The word Yisrael, means one who struggles with God. For our very namesake, we must struggle with these memories, all of these memories.
I am a more passionate and more knowledgeable Jew because Israel exists. It is a place of contradiction. It is a place where myth meets modernity, where the Bible meets technology. It is the birthplace of our memories, and as such, it is our homeland. Shabbat Shalom.
