Chain of Evidence After the destruction of the Second Temple, Jews needed a way of preserving both

culture and life after being spread out in a hostile world. The writings of the early rabbis were

meant to promote and continue the Jewish way of life, but if they are deconstructed and

viewed through a filter they can easily direct us to preserve and promote any and all life on a

more pluralistic and global scale. The word “rabbi” means teacher; in order to make teaching

worth anything learning must occur. If humanity can learn from the mistakes of the past,

maybe with a little guiding from some old rabbis, then it becomes possible that we can all

move foward and easily navigate whichever new crises we encounter.

1. Moses received the Torah from Sinai and gave it over to Joshua. Joshua gave it over to the

Elders, the Elders to the Prophets, and the Prophets gave it over to the Men of the Great Assembly. They

[the Men of the Great Assembly] would always say these three things: Be cautious in judgement. Establish

many pupils. And make a safety fence around the Torah.

Pirkei Avot: Chapter 1.1

Pirkei Avot, also known as the Ethics of Our Fathers, is one of many writings that

Jews study regularly. Originally it was written as a guide for the first fledgling rabbis. It is

studied almost as frequently as the Torah itself -some congregations include it in their weekly

cycle readings- and the first thing it does is create a chain of evidence. Torah transmitted from

Moses on a mountain to Joshua, to the elders, to some Prophets to the Men of the Great

Assembly who were the predecesors of rabbis. Modern Jews have this legacy of Torah.

Moses is now long, long dead. He died looking at the Holy Land but never entering it. It is

almost a blessing that he did not stay around to see some of the horrors that the modern-day

has exhibited upon the people he united. However we can use the wisdom transmitted all the

way from Sinai to create a more tolerant and accepting modern-day by transmitting wisdom clearly from generation to generation, even if the inceptors are long dead, and teaching it to as many pupils as possible so that we can protect tolerance and keep it safe.

I listened to a Holocaust survivor speak today. Her name is Erna Gorman and she is

turning seventy-five this year. The war actively destroyed her life from the ages of four to

almost eleven. Originally from France, her family was in Poland when the Third Reich

invaded their homecountry and they could not return. They moved to Ukraine when the Nazis

invaded Poland. For a time the family hid in a make-shift bunker under a house in the Ghetto,

but then they decided to flee. Erna Gorman spent two, very long years of her childhood

hiding in the hayloft of a barn with her family. Though they are grateful and indebted to the

man that hid them, it does not change the filth, maddening boredom, nor the near starvation

that they endured. When the Russian Army invaded, the family was forced to flee again, this

time literally crawling due to atrophied limbs. She watched her mother get shot and later die.

Then after the Allies overpowered the Nazis, what was left of the family returned to France.

Erna was placed into the equivalent of the first grade and even there she ran into antisemitism

while she tried to recollect her life and herself.

My grandfather, now dead for more than a year, was in his twenties during the war and the survivor I heard today was not even a teenager: soon there will be no more primary sources to describe the Holocaust and concomitant horrors. Today there are people that deny that the Holocaust happened at all. This denial occurs while people still walk the streets who witnessed it firsthand both as victims and as liberators. What do we do in the future when there are no more survivors? They could survive genocide, poverty and countless other hardships but they fall victim to age. We cannot stop the passage of time and life but it is wholly within our power to prevent the sort of wanton destruction and horror caused during the Third Reich.

Therefore, much like the Jewish forebears, who made sure that Jews in the future

knew the sanctity of Torah, which has preserved us as a people for almost 6,000 years. So

too, must we maintain a chain of evidence of our history, including, if not especially, the most

painful parts. We must preserve them not only for the people Israel, but for everyone:

Romaniis (commonly, but incorrectly referred to as gypsies), disabled persons, gays, and yes,

even the Catholics.

That addresses the first section of the excerpt. It is followed by three wisdoms. The first declares “Be cautious in judgement.” This can be handled in two manners. Human beings must never, never let hate own the world like that again. Humans should be judged by what they do and who they are, not by what they are and at the barest minimum, should be judged worthy of life and equality. The second counsel is to “Establish many Pupils,” remembering that this was written almost as a training guide for the earliest teachers. This is something that the Nazis did. They took their ideology and spread it like wildfire; it is possible to imagine a world where this is done so well with thoughts of peace and tolerance, fueled by education and interaction. If it were successful, this line of teaching would have the

power to heal old wounds, possibly soften hardened hearts and hopefully prevent future

misunderstanding from burning firey destruction upon worthy creatures.

Finally we must “build a fence around Torah.” It is important to note here (as study

groups always do when reading Pirkei Avot) that the wording in this section, both in Hebrew

and in English, is Torah, not The Torah. The major difference being that with the definite

article, it signifies the five books attributed to Moses. Torah without the definite article

denotes all of the literature and teaching of the Jewry. It literally means “instruction.” The

idea of building a fence around Torah means that we must protect it. The fence keeps you from breaking the commandments (mitzvot). Theoretically it works like this: if there is a line in the sand which you should not cross, then build a fence a little ways from it and never cross the fence; if you never cross the fence, you most certainly never cross the line. We must protect ourselves by building a fence of peace and hope and acceptance. If we never cross that line then we should never be able to break into that place of hate and intolerance. For by not judging our fellow humans worthy of life and sharing that message with others, that fence is just another barbed wire ghetto.

Erna Gorman is a real woman. She suffered horrible things and may have or may not have been lucky to have been one of the too few survivors of the genocide that we call the

Holocaust. Tonight, she told me her story, that she had hid in the ground under her family's cabin in the Ghetto, that a farmer had saved them and hid them for two years, that when, after the war, she was in school, the children still called her a “filthy Jew.” Most importantly, she related that after years and years of never thinking, not even for a moment, of the things she had endured, she decided to start sharing her experiences with others in the hopes that she could make a difference. She started teaching, transmitting and instructing tolerance. Of her talk, the thing that affected me most was when she asked why it was easier to hate than to love. Maybe someday humans will find love easier than hate.

Erna Gorman endured horrible sufferings in Europe and more than a couple in the

United States; she told a room of people, including myself, of these things; and now I have also told others, creating another chain: chains of evidence of this dark, painful period of history. I would advise three things: be wary and cautious before judging another human harshly, spread a message of peace and acceptance to as many pupils as possible, and do it preemptively: the next Holocaust ends now.

Cited:

Board of Regents. “Erna Blitzer Gordon- April 26, 1984”. Transcribed Interview.

Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive. http://holocaust.umd.umich.edu/gormane/

Pirkei Avot. Trans. Ehrlich Abraham J. Rabbi and Avner Tomaschoff. Eliner Library. n. date.

Sidney Bolkosky. “Survivor”. Holocaust Memorial Center. July 12, 1989. http://www.holocaustcenter.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=347