Living defiance

April 19 marked Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, a day to look back 67 years since the end of the Nazi regime that worked so hard to annihilate an entire race of people.

My people.

Looking back, my life is an act of defiance.

In simply being Jewish in an open and overt way, I am proving the failure of those who wanted to see the destruction of all Jews, simply because they were different.

By being able to observe my faith without fear of harm or hate, my entire being is a demonstration that Hitler and his men failed and that they were unable to take away our lives in their entirety.

We hear the words “never again,” in reference to the killing of the six million Jewish people who perished throughout Europe for no reason save their dedication to God.

Never again are we to allow these kinds of atrocities to happen to humanity, for hate to destroy the lives of the innocent.

Yet, at the same time, hate still exists in our world. Ruthlessness still runs rampant, both in action and in thought.

There are those in the world who continue to be hunted and killed because their race, religion, sexuality or ideologies are different from others.
 
By saying “never again” in reference to the Holocaust, it is the job of all of humanity not only to look out for Jewish people but for all peoples, so we may never look back and say that we were the generation to stand idly by as our neighbors were so ruthlessly slaughtered.

We have to learn from the Holocaust or else those who lost their lives would have done so in vain.

My life is an act of defiance.

When the Nazis went to wipe out every living Jewish person, whether by death camp or execution, they intended to blot out the very existence to those who saw differently from them, those who were threatening to them.

By living, I demonstrate their failure. I demonstrate that those generations that came before me outlived their attackers and had the will to pass on their traditions to the next generation.

Each year, we remember those who gave up their lives to keep Judaism alive. Jews and non-Jews alike sacrificed their lives to continue to practice a religion that they learned from their parents and were determined to teach to their children.

My life is an act of defiance.

I intend to pass on the traditions of my ancestors to my children and to perpetuate Judaism for generations to come. It is by their failure that I succeed. And every moment that I take pride in who I am is yet another symbol of their ineptitude.

May the memories of all who lost their lives be a blessing to the living.

­— azoot@indiana.edu