FAITH MATTERS Rituals Bring Past Into Present
HOLIDAYS EMPHASIZE MEMORIES SO WE DON’T FORGET
Saturday, March 6, 2010
PURIM CELEBRATION - Rabbi Jack Zanerhaft and his wife, Cantor Debbye Zanerhaft, read from the bimah while a scroll of the Book of Esther is unrolled during a Purim celebration at Congregation Etz Chaim in Bentonville on Feb. 27. Purim is a Jewish festival that commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people of the ancient Persian empire from Haman’s plot to annihilate them.
Photo by David Frank Dempsey
Memory is a curious thing. Often, the gift of recollection is used by individuals to retrieve fond thoughts of past experiences. Glorified periods of our youth, or special moments spent with loved ones that are no longer with us are a couple of clear examples. Somehow, though, we have the ability to forget the troubles, difficulties or challenges invariably associated with those very same times or people. Collective memory, for all people of faith and particularly for the Jews, is notably different. Our people have always revered history, especially our harshest periods, and have fused memory to nationhood, and more significantly to our value and belief system. Not only have we meticulously recorded our tribulations alongside our triumphs, we have ...
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