By: Renée Rockford
President & CEO
This week, we read Ki Tavo. It is the parsha denoting the bringing of the first fruits to the Temple and how when an Israelite did such, they were commanded to recite a specific historical summary of their Jewish life. It was Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, z”l, who said this act turned every Jewish citizen into an active storyteller.
At JEWISHcolorado, we know that storytelling and memory are the lifeblood of Jewish community and Jewish continuity.
Many years ago, I attended the World Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors in Israel and covered the event for two major metropolitan dailies.
Once survivors saw the press credentials around my neck, many shared with me their consuming need to have their story told to the world. Over a period of several days, I interviewed many people. Among them was a thin, frail man, Raphael Stieglitz from Hollywood, Florida. He still carried a photo of the young wife he lost in the Holocaust. He had no photos of his two young children who were murdered. He told me about what happened to him — about being the only one of his family to come out alive. He told me about using a portion of his small life savings to make the trip to Israel just in case he could find a familiar face.
I kept my promise to Raphael. I told his story in newspaper articles published after the gathering, and we remained in touch until his death. I have often wondered whether Raphael questioned if he had fulfilled his duty as a survivor: Had he told his story fully enough? Had he spoken adequately on behalf of his wife and children, who could no longer speak for themselves? And I have wondered whether I did justice to the story he entrusted to me.
Hasidic tradition teaches that recounting the noble acts and life of a righteous person awakens that person’s memory and spiritual merit. Jewish mysticism views the spoken word as a concentrated form of divine breath. To tell a sacred—or deeply human—story is to reconnect the threads of existence.
Perhaps that is why Ki Tavo does not ask the Israelite merely to remember, but to speak. Memory held silently can fade; memory spoken becomes inheritance. By recounting where we came from, what we endured, and what we carried forward, we bind one generation to the next. And now, that obligation belongs to all of us to share the stories placed in our care.
Each of us has been entrusted with stories of our own, and the obligation now belongs to all of us. May the coming holidays be filled with stories, memories, and family.
Shabbat Shalom and L’shanah Tovah.
Please email Renée Rockford at rrockford@jewishcolorado.org with questions or comments.