Ultimate Gratitude

America had a Super Bowl to watch this week. It appeared that in addition to the game being quite a yawner, the country is experiencing an acute condition of New England Patriots fatigue. I mean how many Super Bowls can they just keep on winning? In the 11 years of my son's life, the Patriots have been in the Super Bowl a mere six times since 2007! That’s over half his life! Not to mention there have only been 53 Super Bowls in history and the Pats have been in nine Super Bowls!

America got to view another big show, and this one took place in the political theater United States Congress as it hosted President Trump to deliver the State of the Union address. The address was interrupted many times with thunderous applause as some people really liked what they heard. Others sat grim-faced as they were attending the saddest event and couldn’t wait to leave. It is beyond the scope of this space for me to weigh in on any political declaration or policy decision that was announced that evening. However, I was intrigued and captivated by the attention given to the Holocaust survivors invited to be in the audience that evening. As we are painfully aware, the survivors are fading quickly and very soon there won’t be any left among the living. So a recognition in such an arena by the leader of the Free World was quite compelling. This is an excerpt of his remarks: “ Tonight, we are also joined by Pittsburgh survivor Judah Samet. He arrived at the synagogue as the massacre began. But not only did Judah narrowly escape death last fall -- more than seven decades ago, he narrowly survived the Nazi concentration camps. Today is Judah's 81st birthday. Judah says he can still remember the exact moment, nearly 75 years ago, after 10 months in a concentration camp, when he and his family were put on a train and told they were going to another camp. Suddenly the train screeched to a halt. A soldier appeared. Judah's family braced for the worst. Then, his father cried out with joy: "It's the Americans."
A second Holocaust survivor who is here tonight, Joshua Kaufman, was a prisoner at Dachau Concentration Camp. He remembers watching through a hole in the wall of a cattle car as American soldiers rolled in with tanks. "To me," Joshua recalls, "the American soldiers were proof that G-d exists, and they came down from the sky."
I began this evening by honoring three soldiers who fought on D-Day in the Second World War. One of them was Herman Zeitchik. But there is more to Herman's story. A year after he stormed the beaches of Normandy, Herman was one of those American soldiers who helped liberate Dachau. He was one of the Americans who helped rescue Joshua from that hell on earth. Almost 75 years later, Herman and Joshua are both together in the gallery tonight -- seated side-by-side, here in the home of American freedom. Herman and Joshua: your presence this evening honors and uplifts our entire Nation.
When American soldiers set out beneath the dark skies over the English Channel in the early hours of D-Day, 1944, they were just young men of 18 and 19, hurtling on fragile landing craft toward the most momentous battle in the history of war.
They did not know if they would survive the hour. They did not know if they would grow old. But they knew that America had to prevail. Their cause was this Nation, and generations yet unborn.”
Why did they do it? They did it for America -- they did it for us.”
One of the fundamental values of Judaism is gratitude. In the mid-1940s it seemed quite possible that Nazi Germany might prevail and kill every Jew it could reach. It stated goals was to destroy the Free World. The only thing standing in their way was the allied soldiers. Over 400,000 American Soldiers gave their lives and made the ultimate sacrifice so the Jewish people can live to see another day. With all partisan gridlock and the deepening divide in our nation's capital, it was heartwarming to see such a warm bi partisan reaction of the President's recognition to the liberation of the Holocaust survivors on an ordinary Tuesday evening in February.