Miracles Forever

When I was growing up the holiday of Passover was a time for my family to hold its annual get-together.  My grandparents with all their American born family members would meet, exchange greetings and hold a grand festive meal with pleasantries.  We Americans had a lot for which to be thankful.

Zayde (grandpa in Yiddish) Peretz came to America in the 1880's and established our American family, free from the pogroms and poverty of Europe, thus giving us quite a large clan gathering.  Passover marked the Jewish nation's freedom from Egyptian slavery, making us remember that we lived in a country free from persecution.

On the other hand my Jewish classmate, Tibor, looked forward to Passover as a time of sadness and fear.  During World War II, Tibor lost his parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts, totaling 108 members of his immediate family.  When Passover came around all he remembered was the martyred family he did not have.  He had no family with whom he could celebrate.

Once I naively asked him, "What does April remind you of?"  I expected to hear him answer, "Spring," or "Passover."  He answered, "The liberation of our Bergen-Belsen concentration camp."  He had been incarcerated there.

In Parochial School my European teacher had a blue number tattooed on his arm.  So did the Hebrew principal, the school cook and the bus driver.  They all were survivors of the Holocaust.  As a youngster I thought that all Jews from Europe came with numbers while the American Jews were without numbers.  So much for innocence.

This week one of my older congregants came to see me.  He wanted to wish me a happy Passover.  He was a survivor of six labor and concentration camps.  He had spent almost seven years in a living hell and through some miracle he survived the war.  He told me that he could live with the pain of losing his beloved family.  However, now, after 47 years, he was concerned and disappointed.  It's happening again.  How could Chancellor Helmet Kohl meet with the shunned Austrian President, Kurt Waldheim, for lunch in Munich?  How could they dare talk and send the wrong message to the Neo-Nazis active in Germany?  "I decide for myself as federal chancellor who I meet here in Munich," Kohl said after the Friday, March 27th lunch.  "I don't need any advice."

As if things aren't bad enough, there is a Cossack revival claiming that they are the real protectors of Russia, the former Soviet Union.  If possible they would battle to win back all traditionally Russian lands.  They are appointing themselves the guardians of the motherland.  Ivan Kolotkin, a teacher, declared, "Nothing will kill the Russian soul-even if the Jews kill all our culture."

This month the United Nations condemned the Israeli troops wh killed four Terrorists after being attacked with grenades and fire bombs.  Since the peace talks began the United Nations has ignored the fact that 17 Israelis have been killed and more than 250 Israeli soldiers wounded.  With the latest sanctions against Libya taking place, one wonders what Kaddaffi will do next.  Yes, my congregant has a right to voice his concern.

So, this year when Jews world-wide celebrate the time honored festival of Passover, marking the liberation of those enslaved to freedom, they will take hope that this 3,304 year miracle will keep on working.

For, as Zayde said, "We Jews don't believe in miracles, we just count on them!"