Kristallnacht Memories

B"H

Anywhere else it does not seem to be such a big issue but in Germany it is. On November 9, 1938, the Reichkristallnacht (Night of the Broken Glass) took place in Germany.

Every year on this date, German Jews and Gentiles remember this tragic event and hold memorial services. This year, the date falls on a Friday and the mourning issue is a little more complicated. Shabbat is coming soon and on Sunday it is Rosh Chodesh Kislev.

But can there be something like a mourning period according to the calendar ? The date is such and such and I have to mourn now.

Especially Holocaust survivors suffer from their painful memories in their every day life or even every hour. Unfortunately, people do not take this too much into consideration. They rather go to the memorial services, finish and go home. See you again next year.

Leading German Jews sometimes behave ridiculous anyway. Some rabbis, community leaders and the "Central Committee of German Jewry in Germany" (Zentralrat) many times misunderstand the meaning of Jewish history and mourning. I read on a German Jewish blog that a huge memorial service is taking place in Stuttgart (southern Germany) tonight. Local politicians organized the event and simply forgot about something Jewish called "Shabbat".

However, many Jews do not seem to mind and prefer going to see it, and especially to be seen. It is a disgrace that leading German Jews prefer to be seen with high ranking politicians instead of thinking about their roots and Jewish identity.