A Few Words from Rabbi Craig Marantz

Shalom Chevrei. (My Friends.)

Shabbat Zakhor, our Sabbath of Memory, brought us a number of moments worth remembering. First of all, we enjoyed an amazing cultural exchange with Polish musicians Avigail Geniusz and Menachem Mirski, who brought their beautiful voices and guitar work to our services. They added an inspiring blend of Polish, Yiddish and Hebrew to our prayer experience Friday evening and Saturday morning. Together, with our adult choir, Friday evening rang exquisitely with the power of song. Avigail and Menachem reflect the important work being done by the progressive Beit Polska: Jewish Renewal in Poland. We are so blessed they could join us, and we won’t forget our time with them. It was so magical and meaningful.

Apropos of Shabbat Zakhor, which anticipates Purim, a number of us viewed Bogdan's Journey, a documentary about a pogrom that took place in Kielce, Poland right after the Shoah. The film takes a look at a man named Bogdan and how his fellow Poles and Polish-Jewish survivors try to come to grips with what happened in Kielce in the 40s. It’s an enlightening, hopeful, and painful story about a man who seeks to take hold of this historic narrative of hatred and destruction as a way of implementing memory for positive change, making loss matter and mobilizing for collective good. Purim calls us to similar responsibility. If you would like to read a blog about Bogdan’s Journey and its significance, please read here.