Before I could ask Malka the obvious question, she filled me in. “All these items [being sorted] had already been put through a decontamination process beforehand… the tragic infant’s remains were black and shriveled.”
Just one horrid recollection, one moment of thousands of moments of atrocities stored deep in the memory bank of one gentle soul, sufferings she couldn’t bring herself to voice in all these years. Over 85% of holocaust survivors are today 75 years and older, and though hundreds of thousands of personal and eyewitness testimonials have been documented to date, there is no shortage of holocaust denials propagated by blatant anti-Semites worldwide.
Rosh Hashanah comes to remind us that Hashem is in charge of the universe. While many of us worry and wring our hands in despair over the evil that surrounds us at every turn, ultimately everything is in G-d’s hands — the same G-d Who awaits our heartfelt tefillos and teshuvah, the only One to turn to for all of our needs.
May our tremendous acts of chessed and continuous Torah learning deem us worthy of Hashem’s mercy and compassion, and may all of Klal Yisroel and good people everywhere merit His bounty and protection in the coming new year. Shana Tova!
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