About the Ritual

Light from the Darkness: A Ritual for Holocaust Remembrance

In this ritual, we journey through one of the darkest chapters in our history. Yet we recognize that darkness is tempered by light. As has happened so often in our history, powerful people tried to destroy us, body and soul, but they failed. Many were murdered, more than we can ever truly comprehend, an incalculable loss.

But the Jewish people survived, strengthened in our resolve to remain Jews. In this ritual, we celebrate our survival and our strength, even as we honor our lost and remember the horrific hatred and violence that we endured.

Emerging from that horror, we felt broken. We began to collect the slivers of that battered life. Here, we use the sacred remnants of the past to create a new ritual, steeped in tradition. This ritual of remembrance is loosely based on the Passover seder, with familiar elements adapted to the modern context: drinking cups of wine, dipping in salt water, spilling drops of wine, asking questions.

Why use the seder as a model? At the seder, we tell the story of our survival from a great tragedy—four hundred years of slavery. We mourn the bitterness of the Egyptian slavery while celebrating our passage to freedom. In this ritual, we tell the story of our survival from another great tragedy. We mourn the losses of the Holocaust while celebrating our survival as a people.

Here, we remember real people. We hear their voices. We speak their names. We take inspiration from their resilience and the strength of those who stood up for each other in the most difficult circumstances.

Symbols