By Gregory Brenner (4-10-09)

Today is the first day of the Omer.

 

It is a tradition to count the days between Passover and Shavuot, as we mark our freedom from slavery and celebrate our freedom to accept Torah. This is called "counting the omer." This year we will observe the tradition of "counting the omer" by sharing stories about the many different ways that we have been turned on to Jewish learning, and through Jewish learning to Torah.

When I graduated from college at the age of twenty-one, I was fortunate enough to get to go to Europe before starting up graduate school in the fall.  When I was in Munich, I realized that the Dachau concentration camp was a short train ride away.  On the train ride, I made small talk with another guy about my age.  We ended up together in the same tour group.  The most vivid memory I have of that day was standing in a room and looking up at a large picture on the wall.  The picture was of Jewish bodies stacked one on top of the other in that same room.  Exactly where I stood.  I think that was the day I finally understood how important being a Jew was to me.  I don't think I grasped that concept on the day of my Bar Mitzvah.

I became good friends with that guy from the train.  He was a young, Jewish kid from Montreal.  My wife and I went to Canada for his wedding.  I mention this incident because I have always thought how amazing it was to have something good come from something so horrific.  I went to Dachau and I left with a new friend.  I love this story because it always reminds me that good can be found in even the worst situations.  And that gives me hope.

By Gregory Brenner
 
These stories are brought to you by the Temple Emanuel RE-IMAGINE project, an 18-month initiative sponsored by Hebrew Union College, devoted to re-thinking and re-structuring our religious school.