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Sermon for Sidra Vayera
November 2008
AJEX SHABBOS
by Rabbi Geoffrey Hyman

Deputy Mayor, Members of Parliament, Leader of the Council together with councillors, Mr John Coombs, of the Royal British Legion, members of AJEX, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.

Today in our synagogue and at the Cenotaph tomorrow, we remember the fallen of the two world wars and other conflicts, which cost the lives of millions - wars which devastated the world over a long period - and we pay tribute to all those who fought valiantly against the enemies. Seated here within this congregation today are members of AJEX – the Association of Jewish Ex-Service Men and Women – we humbly thank you for all that you did in the past and continue to achieve through your organisation. It was by your effort together with all the troops that the Nazis were defeated. On these days too we remember the Holocaust, we pay tribute to the millions who perished and suffered inhumanely under the Nazi persecution. We stand in awe of the survivors here in the shul today and elsewhere in the world.

On Thursday night I arrived back from the Conference of European Rabbis which took place in Prague. There were delegates from all over the world including the Chief Rabbis of Israel, a total of some 200 rabbis attended. The overall title of the Conference was “Me-Afela le-Ora” – “From Darkness to Light” – a reference to those dark days when the plan of the Germans was to make Europe Juddenfrei. During the sessions much was said about the 70th anniversary of Kristalnacht, the night of the 9th of November 1938, when Shuls were burnt down over Berlin and elsewhere, Jews were assaulted resulting in deaths and the internment of thousands of Jewish men to concentration camps. You know, the Nazis used Kristalnacht as a litmus test, they said “let us see how the world reacts” and do you know, the world was silent – nothing was done. Not one nation lifted its hand against Germany at that point! When Germany saw that, they knew that they had the green light to carry out their planned final solution.

Did you know that in the days following Kristalnacht, in a American poll whilst 88% disapproved of Hitler’s treatment of the Jews, 60% still thought it was their own fault. The world acquiesced, it ignored what was happening. To this present day we cannot forgive what happened in the past even with all the will in the world.

Distinguished guests and congregants, the opening ceremony of our conference took place outside in the street. Do you know why? Because unknown to the organisers of the conference, the Park Hotel where the conference was held, was actually built on the square where the Jews of Prague were assembled to be sent to the Nazi death camps, there is even a plaque on the wall by the road in memory of what happened there. This was only discovered by the organizers once they had checked out the hotel. How eerie! So we stood there in the very presence of Chief Rabbi Lau of Tel Aviv, a child survivor of Buchenwald to recite prayers and say the Kaddish!

Our Sidra begins: “Vayero elov Hashem” – “G-d appeared to Avraham” – it is only through Avraham that the world learnt the vital message of collective or universal responsibility. He pleads for the cities of Sodom and Gomorra which stand to be annihilated for their evil. “G-d if there are 50 righteous in the city, will you save it?” asks Abraham. He battles with G-d, pleading for the people to be spared, but in the end there are not even 10 good men to be found.

We pay tribute and mourn for the past tragedies but at the same time, we must ensure that such evil is never ever allowed to happen again. Racism and persecution of others must be uprooted and fought when it raises its filthy head.

Yet we still live in a world which acquiesces to evil. When the president of Iran pleaded for the eradication Israel at the United Nations, was he hrown out of the room? No! What is being done about the situation in Darfur? And here, parties like the BNP are allowed to sit in Town Halls – yet they are racist! I cannot understand why they are allowed to even exist; for any party that preaches hatred and persecution, whether openly or covertly should be illegal.

May G-d wipe away evil from the face of this earth that all humanity may live together in harmony. May the death of the people we remember today – be not in vain. Amen.