Shavua Tov
As we approach this sacred time in our calendar, we turn our hearts and minds to memory.
This Sunday, we will commemorate Yom HaShoah. Together, we will honor the survivors and remember the six million Jews who were murdered in the Shoah. Memory is not passive; it calls upon us. It obligates us.
Our tradition teaches: “Zachor—Remember.” The commandment to remember appears again and again in Jewish life, reminding us that memory is not only about the past, but about how we live in the present and shape the future. As it is written in Deuteronomy, “Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations” (Deut. 32:7). To remember is to connect to those who came before us, to one another, and to the generations yet to come.
Avram Infeld teaches that Jews have not survived because of history alone, but because of memory. History is what happened; memory is what we choose to carry forward, what we make meaningful, and what we allow to guide our lives. Memory, he reminds us, is not about the past it is about responsibility for the future.
At the Tucson J and throughout our Jewish Community, we live this truth every day. One of the most powerful ways we honor memory is by strengthening Jewish life and creating a vibrant Jewish community. We create community through relationships by showing up for one another.
Through learning by engaging deeply with our heritage. Through participation by celebrating and marking time together. And even through struggle by standing together in moments of challenge and uncertainty.
In the days ahead, our community will again gather in remembrance and in hope. Next week, we will come together to honor the memory of Israeli soldiers and victims of terror on Yom HaZikaron. And immediately following, we will celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaout, Israel’s 78th birthday, a powerful reminder of resilience, renewal, and the enduring strength of the Jewish people.
In the spirit of memory, many of us recall the haunting words of Pavel Friedmann, written in the Theresienstadt ghetto:
“The last, the very last,
So richly, brightly, dazzlingly yellow.
Perhaps if the sun’s tears would sing
Against a white stone…
Such, such a yellow
Is carried lightly ‘way up high.
It went away I’m sure because it wished
To kiss the world goodbye.”
The “Butterfly” has become a symbol of memory fragile, fleeting, yet impossible to forget.
And in Israeli song, we are reminded again of memory’s power. In Zachor(Remember) and in HaPerach BeGani (The Flower in My Garden), memory is not only sorrow it is love, continuity, and life carried forward.
We honor the memory of those we have lost not only with words, but with action. We do so by building, by gathering, by teaching, and by creating spaces where Jewish life can flourish.
We honor memory by providing the Jewish future.
May this season of remembrance deepen our commitment to one another and strengthen our resolve to build a vibrant, enduring Jewish community—together.
With respect, reflection, and hope,
Cochenu b’Achduteynu | כחינו באחדותינו | Our strength is in our unity.
Am Yisrael Chai | עם ישראל חי
Todd Rockoff
President + CEO, Tucson J
