Showing posts with label Remembrance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Remembrance. Show all posts

July 27, 2023

Tisha B'Av: Remembering The Fallen Temple

Please G-d, the 3rd Temple soon and in our times!  

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)


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December 6, 2020

Kiddush for Friday Evening by Andy Blumenthal

Kiddush for Friday Evening (start of Shabbat).

By Andy Blumenthal.

In the spirit of my father, זצ״ל, Manfred Blumenthal.

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June 26, 2018

Never Forget # Never Again

Please see my new article in Times of Israel

As much as we have to remember the horrors of the Holocaust and how so-called, human beings can descend into the depth of evilness inflicting hell against their fellow man, it is most critical to ensure it never happens again. 

But remembering can be extremely painful, especially for the next generation that perhaps wants to forget all the terrible tragedy and for everything to be seemingly "normal" again. 

But in the ageless war of good over evil, we must continuously fight to defend a peaceful and secure future for us and our children. 

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
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July 29, 2017

We Remember and Cry

Today the Rabbi spoke about that on Monday night is the solemn night of Tisha B'Av (the 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av).

It is the day that Jews remember and cry about the destruction of both temples in Jerusalem--on the exact same day in history almost 700 years apart--in 586 BCE and and 70 AD. 

Tisha B'Av is also the date when Germany entered World War I which as we know started a series of events that led to the catastrophe of the Holocaust. 

We remember and cry on Tisha B'Av as we went from freedom to worship and live in Jerusalem to the exile and servitude to the Babylonians and the Romans. 

It the polar opposite of the holiday of Passover, where we celebrate and commemorate going from servitude under the Egyptians to freedom and redemption to get the Torah and enter and settle the Holy Land. 
By the rivers of Babylon
There we sat (and) also wept
When we remembered Zion
On willows in its midst
We hanged up our harps
For there our captors asked of us
(For) words of songs and tormented us (with) mirth:
'Sing to us from the song of Zion'
How will we sing the song of God
On a foreign land? 
If I will forget you Jerusalem
My right hand will forget (its skill)
My tongue will stick to the roof of my mouth
If I will not remember you
If I will not raise Jerusalem
Above my happiness
We as a people have been through so much...servitude, expulsions, crusades, inquisitions, pogroms, genocide...thousands of years of discrimination, torture, rape, and murder--yet, Israel Doth Live!

As the L-rd promised the Jews--after exile would come redemption, and so it is!

For thousands of years, the Jewish people yearned for a homeland where we could live in peace and security and for the rebuilding of the Holy temple--please G-d in our days soon.

From the rivers of Babylon to the Nile in Egypt and the Rhine in Germany--we have paid the ultimate price and sacrifice to G-d and we pray that the Jewish people can once again be free to live and worship as foretold "from the River in Egypt to the Euphrates River." (Exodus 23:31) ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
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May 21, 2017

Time Travel Is Real

Sure, we can travel space...from continent to continent, into the depths of the oceans, and to the far reaches of outer space.

But can we also travel time?

Yes, and we regularly do!

Whether individually, in our minds eye, we go back and forth in time--remembering poignantly the memories of the past with regret or with joy and thinking forward in time whether worrying what could happen or eagerly look forward and hope for a brighter future. 

Similarly, as a human collective, we can travel back and forth in time well past our individual recollections and remember, celebrate, memorialize, or eulogize what came before us through generations and millennia and even plan great innovations, feats, and civilizations well into the future. 

Time is but a shadow that is cast off us from the our great Heavenly Father who shines his grace upon us by his creation and is himself timeless. 

In the shadow of time, we can glimpse the externalism of what supersedes our mortality and the significance of us as a speck in time amidst the greatness that lies across the reaches of space and time--that is the soul of the matter. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
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May 5, 2016

For Holocaust Remembrance Day



The photo is self-explanatory to all decent human beings out there.

We can never let evil rule the day.

Good people must stand up and speak out for good.

Never again!

(Source Photo: Sent to me by Minna Blumenthal)
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April 23, 2016

G-dly Tattoo

So my daughter took this photo of someone on the train.

They had a tattoo that said Elokim--G-d's name in Hebrew--on their hand along their thumb.

Also, they had a second tattoo on the top of their hand that had the Star of David. 

Pretty dramatic, I think. 

But what a way to remember G-d and your religion all the time.

And I thought wearing a yarmulke on my head was something!

Anyway, just another thought for the day.

I was talking with a young person this week.

They said, how hard it was to be young and not know what was going to happen--what life had in store for them. 

I agreed that it was, but also added something that I had heard a number of years ago that:


When your young, you have health, but no money to enjoy it 

and when your old, you have money, but no health to enjoy it. 

The point is that at every point in life, we have our challenges, and we just have to make the most of what we got, when we have it. 

Ideally, of course, we have plenty of health and money--and the time to enjoy it with our family and friends.  

Happy Passover!

(Source Photo: Rebecca Blumenthal)

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September 5, 2015

Climbing The Tower, Remembering 9/11






It's the weekend before the anniversary of 9/11, and today in full gear, about 100 firefighters and police officers climbed the 28-story tower in Rockville 4 1/2 times today equaling the 2,000 stairs in the World Trade Centers.

This to remember the 343 firefighter and 71 police officer heroes that fell that fateful day.

Also, to raise funds for the firefighter burn fund. 

While some are war weary and would rather forget or pretend it never even happened...

It is so important that we not forget the devastating terrorist attack by Islamic extremists on 9/11 that took us by surprise and cost this nation so dearly. 

Reckless pacifism, appeasement, cowardice, and running from the fight without defeating the enemy and restoring societal order will only bring the fight to us. 

We need ongoing vigilance, investment and improvements to homeland security and our national defense, and the spread of freedom and human rights across the globe.


(The interview with the firefighter was narrated by me, Andy Blumenthal)

(Source Photos: Me as well). 

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September 11, 2014

9/11 Remembrance

"Never Forget Project" - 13 years after the tragic events of 9/11.

2,977 American flags at local university in Washington, D.C. 

Question: With all the weighty terror threats aroud the world, including the latest and largest from ISIS--is never forgetting the same as doing everything possible to make sure it doesn't happen again?  

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
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August 30, 2014

Erase Me Not

So in the war between good and evil, the battlefield has become a war of words as much as that of guns and bombs. 

If you can't exterminate a people physically, then why not try to do it historically? 

With despots like former Iranian president Ahmadinejad as a exemplar for Holocaust denial, history revisionists now make fair game of rewriting the past, so that it plays their way.

How convenient--if you don't like how something turns out, simply change it in the history books so it never even happened. 

I was surprised recently to see how far this method of verbal warfare has gone, when I happened to look up some information online about the Jewish Exodus from slavery in Egypt and trek to the Promised Land of Israel, only to find that in Wikipedia, this has now been deemed a "Charter Myth."

I wondered how both the thousands year old Jewish Torah and the Christian Old Testament that records my people's hundreds of years of slavery and redemption in the Biblical book of Exodus was now just recorded in the most prominent online encyclopedia on the web as a false belief!

Ah, maybe those pyramids in Giza just showed up one day--and my people didn't build them with straw, mortar, and dead Jewish slave bodies.

Forget about how convenient calling this a myth is to the terrorists who don't want to acknowledge that the Land of Israel was given by G-d to the Jewish people and instead want to believe in Jihad against all "infidels."

My daughter asked me on a recent walk why they hate us? 

And I answered and said, if another people--i.e. the existence of the Jews and their homeland, Israel--is a refutation of their hate-filled "religious" beliefs, then maybe we can understand why they want to get rid of us, the inconvenient evidence.

This same story is playing out in the fighting between Israel and Hamas, where despite incredible destruction to Hamas in Gaza, they are claiming victory on social media. 

The Jewish people are small in numbers, and if millions of religious militants wants to write us off in the history books and on the web, they can certainly try. 

But what Jewish people do that is smarter than trying to erase something bad from history is that we force ourselves to remember it--to learn lessons from it and become better despite what happened. 

That is why we celebrate Passover to remember the Exodus from many thousands of years ago. The same with Yom Hashoah to memorialize the murder of six million Jews in the Holocaust, and Tisha B'Av to remember the destruction of the two Jewish temples. 

Even we the commandment to blot of the remembrance of the evil that Amalek did in attacking the our infirm and elderly among us in the dessert in Exodus, we remember this annually!

The Jews are a people of the book--we remember, we study, we learn, we grow. 

In the Bible, there are plenty of people that did bad things, but we would never think to rewrite it or any portion of it. It is sacred and most valuable to learn from--the good and the bad. 

While damning the memory of someone bad is not uncommon among all cultures, it is really more a remembrance of what they did bad, rather than forgetting they ever did it. 

It is far more courageous to remember history and learn from it, then try fledglingly to rewrite the parts that you don't like or are inconvenient to you. 

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
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April 28, 2014

Holocaust Remembrance Day 2014

I was so humbled to hear the story of survival of Dr. Alfred Munzer today at the Holocaust Memorial Observance.

Dr. Munzer was hidden for the first four years of his life from the Nazis by a righteous Indonesian family in the Netherlands.

Earlier this month, Dr. Munzer visited Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, to share his awesome story of humanity and compassion in the face of Nazi brutality and genocide. 

Dr. Munzer told his story today through photos of his Jewish and Indonesian family's life during the Holocaust, and related how his father and sisters were murdered by the Nazis; from his immediate family, only he and his mother survived to come to America in 1958.

I was so inspired by Dr. Munzer's story and encourage everyone to hear it at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum where Dr. Munzer volunteers. 

When people help other people, even at their own peril, that represents true globalization of the human race and the unity of all mankind. ;-)
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April 26, 2014

Treat People Nice

On a recent college visit, I saw this sign hanging on a door. 

The quote is by Maya Angelou and it is very powerful:


"People will forget what you said,

People will forget what you did,
But people will never forget how you made them feel."

As human beings in this world, we come and go.


Our time here is finite. 

We will be replaced by others.


What is truly memorable about us is our relationships and how we treat others. 


When we show kindness to people or when we are cruel to others--these things are never forgotten. 


Our interactions are the mark of who we are inside--do we sincerely care about others and the bigger picture or are we just plain selfish?


How about you--can you remember:

  • how that parent who loved you made you feel? 
  • how that teacher who taught you made you feel? 
  • how that friend who played with you made you feel?
  • how that boss who mentored you made you feel? 
  • how that clergy who inspired you made you feel?
  • how that spouse who was your companion made you feel?
  • how those children who looked up to you made you feel? 
  • how those colleagues who supported your work made you feel?

I'm sure you can also remember times when people made you feel not so good--perhaps, you scowled or even cursed them under your breath. 

Getting results in life is not enough--we can't do it by stepping on other people and really being successful that way.


Empathy and kindness or a hard heart and cruelty--you will be remembered one way or another. ;-)


(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

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September 3, 2012

Holocaust, Still a Nightmare In Our Souls


This is an amazing video of the horrors of the Holocaust expressed through modern-day Israeli Rap music and ballet interpretation.

The video is to the violin accompaniment of a broken and wrenching tune of Adon Olam--a prayer in which we recognize the almighty--"When all shall end, He alone, shall reign supreme--He was. He is. He shall be. In glory."

The main part of the video starts at 0:45.

The singer asks: "Why exterminate childrens' dreams, adults' memories?"

As he raps, we shall not forget--"A big scream...It is stuck inside me. Six million! burned in my memory."

Again asked: "Who has the right to extinguish a culture?"

With Iran--the free world is threatened again.

Now we must "not to be afraid, to stand up!"

And "to live in dignity and to die in dignity."

May G-d remember the souls of those murdered for merit and have mercy on mankind.

The children of David be strong--"The path to heaven is 'survival.'"

"Dust to dust, our souls go to heaven."

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August 2, 2012

This Fish Doesn't Bite

It's annual Shark Week--apparently, there is now a dedicated week for just about everything.  

Although I am not sure how that works with only 52 weeks a year...unless every week is "dedicated" to multiple honors, rememberances, etc.  

Like they say, everyone/everything gets their five minutes of fame. 

This picture is of the Discovery Building in downtown Silver Spring.

Yeah, there is a ginormous shark head hanging off the side of the building (and you can see a little bit of the fins and tail hanging off the sides).

This guy, turned around and staring at the shark head, practically missed his ride, but then again this is not something you see everyday on the way to work.

Jaws meet DC commuters/workforce--we're not running from this gefilte fish. ;-)

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August 14, 2011

Ten Years After 9/11

This video on the 9/11 memorial in NYC opening on 9/11/11 speaks for itself.

Enjoy and remember!

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July 20, 2011

G-d Bless America


Great job by the Silhouettes last night on America's Got Talent.
An inspiring remembrance for upcoming 10-year anniversary of 9-11.
Truly, the land of the free, brave, and talented.

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April 22, 2011

Never Lose Faith; Never Give Up

I really liked this story on CNN (source WRAL) on Holocaust survivor, Morris Glass, who is having his bar mitzvah at 83--Mazel tov!

Mr. Glass was denied his rite of passage as a teenager to become a bar-mitzvah, because his family, like so many at the time, where being murdered by the Nazi's in the Holocaust.

As he is one of the dwindling few Holocaust survivors left to tell his story--I value and appreciate these lessons that Mr. Glass shares in the interview:

- Be grateful for your loved ones.

- Never forget that terrible things happened to people (slavery, murder...) and could happen again, if not prevented.

- Everything you do, you should do right, even the little things.

- You are free to serve G-d, not free from responsibility.

- You are the future.

- Never lose faith; never give up.

To me, these are lessons in life and in leadership that are universal whether we are at bar mizvah age (13) or at 83 and whether you are you celebrating Passover, Easter, or whatever.

Happy holidays.

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March 6, 2011

A Time To Remember

Someone sent me this cartoon today and I was moved by it.
As much as we want to look to the future, it is important to remember the past and the many millions who perished in the most horrible and cruel way.

And as we continue to live in times of upheaval and extremism, the lessons of just 60+ years ago, of the Holocaust, are as relevant today as ever.

As someone who is always looking at technology as the answer to everything (understanding of course, that all true answers come from above), this is a pause for me to question what if any are the limits to change and innovation?

My hope, of course, is that we can rid ourselves of hatred, bigotry, intolerance, and extremism and instead work together for the betterment of all humankind.

As long as our minds are blocked by hatred, we (in the collective) will never be able to realize our ultimate potential.

I believe in a future where we will ALL together achieve technological breakthroughs that will surpass anything that we can imagine today; where we will indeed travel--perhaps to the stars--together as one, not divided by race or religion any longer, but united in our commonality and strength and desire to achieve a future of hope, health, peace, and success for all.

(Source cartoon: Wiley)

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