Krystallnacht

No, I wasn't here.

As a Pesach Jew, I take the most important aspect of the rememberance of Krystallnacht to be the realization not merely of the suffering of Jews but the knowledge that that suffering is not mine.

Tonight I remember those who were taken from this building all those decades ago as I recline, savour sweets and drink wine in the very same building. I do not have the right to that suffering and to the moral standing of those victims and I refuse to make illegitimate use of it not even under the misguided impulse of fear.

In this sense, tonight is no different than every other night. The warning of my father's voice remains: though shall not usurp the identity of the victim. My duty, as I see it, is to recognize that seeing ourselves in their shoes--having the presentiment of not being able to protect your child from the heavy footsteps coming up the staircase--is a condition not of understanding who we are but understanding who we are not. That means, not the ones who perished but the ones who can do justice.