Who Has the Right to Ritual
Who has the right to ritual, to define what is and what isn't appropriate or appropriated, to declare themselves as a member of the tribe?
Mourning the more than 33,000 Jews executed at Babi Yar isn’t the only reason I am collecting recordings of Kaddish. I am also trying to claim tradition and ritual and to grapple with a religion I’ve loved and hated, but never quite shed.
The right to ritual isn’t something I’ve come to contemplate only recently. It’s just that now, I am realizing that I can stake a claim to a tradition that isn’t always, or even often, friendly to me or people like me.
Who am I? I’m a rootless mongrel like so many of you. How far back do my Jewish roots go? I used to care, but no longer do. Who cares? What I know is that right below the center of my breastbone is something that is and always has been physically and psychically connected to centuries of Jews that came before me. It is undeniable and unshakeable.
Yet, walking into a synagogue fills me with anxiety. I feel unrecognized and unwelcomed when I stray from the congregation I grew up with. I feel judged for the decisions I’ve made, for the love I’ve chosen, for the laws I flout and for those I’ve forgotten or never known.
I’m bored by impersonal rituals that lack heart and services that seem to be more for entertainment than for participation.
I’m more scared by rejection from the community than by threats of terrorism that the bag checkers and security guards pretend to protect me from.
What has made the synagogue feel unsafe to me is not outside its walls. It’s inside.
I understand that we are a threatened community. This makes us want to diligently protect our borders. It makes us want to protect our traditions. Yet that protection can go too far. It can become like an auto-immune disease that kills off exactly what it needs to be healthy. (Full disclosure: allergy sufferer and asthmatic speaking)
I say it’s time we let down our guard more than a bit and find ways to welcome strays and mongrels like me. There are more than a few of us.
Here’s my first challenge to you who are part of active Jewish communities. Find a way to welcome newcomers and strangers. Assign the extroverts among you the task of being friendly. Give some space to loners. Try it. Tell me if it works.
And please send me a recording of Kaddish. Instructions are here: Prayers for Mourning
Thanks.
Prayers for Mourning
Kaddish
Kaddish is the Jewish prayer for mourners. It's said every day for eleven months after the death of a family member. After that it is repeated yearly on the anniversary of the death.
It marks a completion. Its meaning is unimportant. The sound of the words, spoken in ancient Aramaic, is what is important. The rhythm. The melody. The comfort of the words.
In Night Elie Wiesel wrote of men reciting Kaddish for themselves as they approached their deaths. He wrote about his anger with G-d. Why should he sanctify a G-d who allowed the crematoria? Still the prayer rose inside him.
I need your help
I am collecting recordings of people saying and chanting the Kaddish for a soundscape.
Make a sound recording or video of you, your friends, your minion, your congregation, your family saying Kaddish. You can use the microphone on your phone. You can use a better microphone if you have one. It's okay to send me video files even. Whatever you can do is welcome.
Sending your files to me
You can send me files from your computer or smartphone using the following link:
https://www.dropbox.com/request/8abXNn6Gj6CGxT540xku
Record your reading from your telephone
You can also make a recording of your prayers of Kaddish using your telephone. Here’s how to record your message:
1) Call LifeOnRecord, +1-800-437-3009 by May 1, 2017
2) When prompted, enter your Invitation Number: 33848
3) Record your message after the tone. When finished you can either hang up or press the # key. If you press the # key you’ll be given options to listen to your recording, accept your recording, or re-record it.
If you are not in the US and Canada, find a local number here: http://www.lifeonrecord.com/
The flower burning in the Day—and what comes after...
Babi Yar (Babin Yar) 2016. Nineteen years before I was born 33,700 Jews were killed in a massacre 2 miles from the center of Kiev in a wooded area called Babi Yar.
A few days after the Germans took Kiev on September 11, 1941, signs began appearing ordering Jews to appear near the site of the Jewish cemetery.
Failure to do so, the signs read, would result in being shot on sight.
The Jews thought it was for resettlement. Another resettlement. It wouldn't be the first time.
Eighteen days after the Germans took Kiev, the massacre began.
This was one of the first huge mass executions of Jews by the Nazis. It was the beginning of the Final Solution.
The killing continued throughout the war. An uncounted number of Roma and Ukrainians were also killed there.
Who was killed at Babi Yar and how many exactly, may remain a mystery. When whole families are wiped out, there is no one left to count them.
Towards the end of World War II, the bodies were dug up. The bones smashed. What was left, burned. The history of the place was repressed first by the Nazis and then by the Soviets. Still, it would not remain a secret.
Today it is a rambling park. Construction crews work to reshape it. Kitsch sculptures mark the locations where Jews were killed. A menorah. A child with a headless doll. A stack of heroic bodies.
A highway borders the site. There is no west or east. No south or north.
The prayers you share are for them. They will be part of a soundscape (like a landscape painting, but made of sound) that I am creating specifically for the site.
Thank you for participating.
Please share with others.