Rabbi Howard Morrison

This coming Tuesday and Wednesday, we will usher in Adar I during this leap year of 5782. We have six weeks until Purim, which will be celebrated in Adar II.

While the holiday of Purim culminates with joy and celebration, the annual reading of the Megilah and the Fast of Esther continually remind us of Haman's evil intentions to annihilate Persian Jewry in the fifth century BCE.

Last Thursday, the world at large commemorated International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Given some sad events over the past week, it seems to me that the world needs a ritual of remembrance like a Megilat Ha'Shoah (such a text does exist) or a prescribed Fast, as we have in order to ritually observe Purim. An abstract day of Remembrance on January 27 needs more.

During the past few days, a school in Tennessee has banned the book, Maus, possibly the best written and drawn book for addressing the Shoah to young children.

Also in the past few days, an organized truck protest in Ottawa marching against federal Covid restrictions saw a number of trucks displaying Nazi flags. Sadly, this scene was not challenged in our nation's capital.

While having a fixed date for International Holocaust Remembrance Day is commendable, perhaps the world needs an annual Holocaust Education Week, much like the one organized in the Toronto Jewish community every Fall, which culminates with the anniversary of Kristallnacht.

Sincerely,

Rabbi Howard Morrison