Kaddish and other responses to Jewish tragedy

I once overheard someone saying:

"You know, I lost my parent. You'd think they'd be nice to me. Instead, they punish me and make me daven fahr the amud everyday. I got to be in shul for the opening bell and I need to be there at the end, just to make sure I say Kaddish. And to top it off I can't got to weddings and listen to music for a year"

That's Quite an insight. Sure we say, "that's the least we can do for a parent". But the man really does have a point.

Anyway, in this post I wanted to contrast different communal reactions to tragedy. As we saw in my last post, the institution of Kaddish Yasom was an emotional response to the crusades.

Compare that to the following Emotional response.

But before you watch, this requires a little introduction. The performance, produced by the Gedenk Movement, is a chilling, touching yet uplifting memorial to the Holocaust. I can't find it now, but I read somewhere that the Video was screened by holocaust survivors before it was released for public consumption. This was done to make sure it did not offend the sentiments of holocaust survivors. Apparently, there was overwhelming approval.

I personally love the sentiments expressed by Subliminal, (that's the guy's name) - Especially 3:09 to 3:40.

But do bravado sentiments like this help the Jewish nation survive?

My feeling? Absolutely. And it's especially necessary for Jewish survival in Israel. (but more on that in a later post).

This performance is another valid strong emotional response to tragedy.

And it certainly can't be any less effective than Kaddish Yasom.



(Are you as touched by this as I am?)

http://www.gedenkmovement.com/