“Mine Eyes Have Seen” - 92 year old woman at Tea Party 9/12 March on Washington on a cold and rainy morning.
I hate to say it but it’s true, this is a face that deserves a place in American history. She stands for ridiculously radical ideologies and hates illegitimately, but she sacrificed her life to embrace a right that can virtually, solely characterize what it means to be an American.
(For those of you confused: this is the woman who has lived across the street from the White House in a make-shift hut since the late 80’s.)
(A short [true] story I wrote while in Bulgaria, an instant that will impact a lifetime)
This afternoon a number of Ambassadors to Bulgaria participants found themselves in an open-air market in the center of Sofia, Bulgaria. There they had an opportunity to shop for souvenirs, which for the most part consisted of tiny crafts, paintings, and other touristy items that would eventually find their way back to siblings, relatives, boyfriends, girlfriends, and peers. Amidst all of the touristy trinkets and hand made crafts, a handful of teens came across artifacts that would make things that they had once studied in humanities come to life.
For the first time for most, teens were staring face to face with authentic Nazi Swastikas, Silver Crosses, SS lightning bolts, and pieces of uniforms that had once been worn by people whose occupation it was to eradicate the teen’s ancestors. The feelings of these individuals went from the sheer jubilation once felt from being able to have some free time to collect gifts, to dark, uncomfortable, and even frightened.
Just last night we met with Holocaust survivors in the Plovdiv JCC. These men shared their stories about how impossible it was to be a Jew during the Nazi’s occupation of Europe but also how they refused to denounce their Judaism even if it meant facing death. The inspirational stories of these elderly men struck deep into the hearts of the teens on this trip as the words of their diatribes echoed through their heads as they stood over the relics of an era that can be considered one of the most horrifying in Jewish History.
As the teens explored the artifacts, they noticed items of a Judaic nature on the other side of the table. Amongst them were a silver spice box, rings, and two yad’s. Their minds suddenly began to race with ideas of how such items could have found their way to a table with remnants of such hate. Disgusted by the thought that these items might have been the same that Nazi’s had once stolen from Jews during the Holocaust, these teens sprung into action collecting as much money as they could from participants on the trip to try and recapture at least one piece of their history.
When all was said and done, a Yad was purchased. Upon closer inspection and a bit of research, it could be determined that this particular Yad was made in 1895, out of Silver, and in Russia. Remembering the stories of the survivors from the night before, and with the emotional end of a simply amazing trip slowly approaching, the teens of the program decided that the only proper place for the preservation of this piece of history would be the Plovdiv Synagogue, the second of two working synagogues in all of Bulgaria.
As time goes by, the Jewish community of Bulgaria slowly rebuilds itself, but there are little funds available for making purchases of historical items such as this possible. Through the sheer goodwill and gigantic hearts of teens who have fallen in love with this country through an undoubtedly life changing journey over the past 10 days, the American participants were able to give something back to a community that has sacrificed so much for them.
It was this gesture of benevolence that adds icing to an already extremely successful voyage.
