Friday, May 10th, 2024

Deb Filler is a terrific comedian and the daughter of Holocaust survivors. In her act, she has a funny bit in which she tells her mother about so-and-so, her new friend. Her mother’s response is “Friend?! Really?! Would she HIDE YOU?!” The way Deb tells is riotously funny, and it’s good to laugh. In truth, however, most children of survivors (and Holocaust-obsessed Jews like me) at one time or another play the mental game of “Would They Hide Me?”

Long before this Hamas-Israel War, Cantor Simon and I often played that game to the nth degree. We were sure we knew exactly which of our friends would have hidden us had we been in Europe during the Holocaust. Moreover, we believed we knew who would have hidden us for free, which friends would have hidden us “until the money ran out”, who would not have hidden us, who would have turned us in for the Nazi reward, and who would have turned us in gratis. A very dark game, I know, but somehow there was a comfort in knowing, in being hypothetically prepared.

There were only one or two people whom we always felt fell into the first category – hide us for free. Unfortunately, I now have a new category: Those who would simply be silent. My closest friend from university is a wonderful non-Jewish woman, who has lived all over the world, including Israel, and whose house reflects a mind-blowing eclectic appreciation of all cultures and religions. She even used to have a mezuzah on her doorpost until I told her that I sorta-kinda thought it was inappropriate, since a mezuzah is supposed to indicate that a Jewish person lives there. (I suggested that, since she like it so much, she hang it on a wall in her house as a piece of art.)

Since October 7th, this friend has not said one word about Israel or the war. My son recently stayed with her when he visited the city in which she lives. Before and after the visit, we spoke, we laughed, I thanked, she said what-a-pleasure, but not one word about Israel. Not even when I brought it up. More than once. Silence, then she changed the subject.

This week we commemorated Yom HaShoah, but it has been a different experience from that of previous years. This year, sadly, like all Jews in Toronto, I could easily imagine what it was like for my family members in Europe in the years leading up to the Holocaust. Moreover, this year, I can see how the ghettos, concentration camps, and mass murders were able to happen not only because of the actions of Hitler and his Nazi followers. Oh, no. They happened because millions stood by in silence. Watching. Waiting. In silence.

We can not be silent about what is happening in the world, in Israel, in Canada, in Toronto. We have a homeland. Let us defend her in action and word. Silence is not golden. Am Yisrael Chai!

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”