Photo Credit: Jewish Press
Last week, during my yearly doctor’s exam, I had a poignant conversation with a nurse I’ve known for years.
We caught up on our lives, and I mentioned that I would be leading a women’s tour group to Poland, visiting Auschwitz, Birkenau, and other sites where darkness once overshadowed the sun.
She shared a powerful memory from her past:
“I was a young nurse in my 20s, about 40 years ago. A sweet Orthodox woman was my patient, and I handed her a striped hospital gown to change into. She turned pale and refused, revealing the numbers on her arm. She couldn’t bear to wear the striped uniform that reminded her of the horrors she endured during the Holocaust. It was a moment that opened my eyes to a history I knew little about.”
Her words struck a chord with me. The world seems to have forgotten the atrocities of the Holocaust, with each passing generation becoming more detached from our collective memory.
We must not let our story fade into oblivion. It is our duty to remember, to educate our children, and to live with pride in our heritage. The Land of Israel is a gift, a promise from Hashem that we must cherish and protect.
If we fail to instill this sense of identity and history in the next generation, who will carry our story forward?