Last Sunday’s community wide Yom HaShoah/Yom Ha’atzmaut event at Baltimore Hebrew Congregation had more sub-plots in it than an episode of “24.”
All 1800 of us were ostensibly there to hear Alan Dershowitz, arguably the most recognized international voice in the area of combating Holocaust denial and Islamic anti-Semitism.
Thankfully, we did get 45 minutes of Mr. Dershowitz’s inspiring brilliance.
Apparently not enough thankfulness was spread around.
In no particular order, here goes:

The University of Baltimore School of Law was absolutely slighted.
No U of B connection, no Alan Dershowitz, pure and simple.
Except for the mention of Prof. Kenneth Lasson, the man who brought Mr. Dershowitz to town, there was almost no Jewish Council thank you to the University of Baltimore School of Law. Don’t think that the officials from U of B didn’t notice the exclusion from the event’s brochure. They did, and they weren’t pleased.
The law school co-sponsored this event, put up about $15,000 and didn’t receive due recognition.

Baltimore Hebrew Congregation Cantor Judith Rowland was humiliated in her own shul. Don’t take my word for it, ask her. She was livid.
The cantor, on her own turf, wasn’t permitted to sing El Male Rachamim, because of the issue of “kol isha” or the public singing of a woman in front of men. I did an official over/under on the number of Vaad rabbis in the room, and I counted three. Why not politely inform everyone who could be offended by Cantor Rowland that they can stand in the hallway while she delivers the words of our sages. Or better yet, let’s just open up our programs and read it out loud together. The words were there. Instead, we took the hosting chazzan and assigned her candle lighting duty. Beth El’s Thom King filled in beautifully. But Cantor Rowland should have been given the honor.
Oh, and by the way, was I the only one who heard a group of boys and girls, some teens, singing together from the bima? Didn’t I also hear the voices of a girl or two singing solos? So if they could sing, why couldn’t Cantor Rowland?

”Would the Holocaust survivors in the room please stand?”

Are you kidding me? All, they get to do is stand?
We have survivors in this community who are amazing people and remarkable speakers.
They were around when the handwriting on the wall in Europe came from the hands of Nazi terrorism. Who better to talk about what they saw then and what they are seeing now courtesy of the Islamic terrorists than actual, living survivors? May they live to 120 but they aren’t going to be here forever. Don’t just have them stand, have them speak.

Finally, I don’t know about you, but does it really matter on the issue of the Holocaust what the governor and the mayor think? I don’t think so. They were up there on that bima, because we as a community feel the need to politically pander to them, nothing more, nothing less. Their families aren’t connected to anyone who faced an oven or extinction thanks to the Nazis. Know what? Next time there’s a speech given in Annapolis or in Baltimore City Hall on the legislative process in this state and city, let’s get a Holocaust survivor to deliver that speech. Why not? They know as much about that process as the governor and mayor know about the death camps.  We could all have stood a lot less of their prepared speeches so that more time could have been given to the keynote.
And while I’m on politics, could someone have prepared the emcee with the name of the our City Council President, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. She is one of our community leaders and a friend to the Jewish community. Can we not botch her name?

I know, I have a lot of nerve. I didn’t spend one moment working on this. So what right do I have to tell the organizers what to do? They did all the heavy lifting and for that deserve our admiration for their hard work. But, the truth is, even if I did have something to say, what we got the other night was basically the following:

It was “Jewish Community Celebration In A Box.”
We’ve all seen it before, we’ve all been there and can substitute the holiday in this handy kit.
Comes complete with a Kaddish, the cute kids to sing the Hebrew songs, elected officials, some Holocaust survivors, a video about Israel, candles, plenty of candles, the keynote address and the big Hatikva finale.

Everyone goes home happy. It’s sterile and without risk.

Can we re-invent this please?

We had a speaker who has a message we need to hear.
Can we listen to him longer?
Can we get rid of the video commercial? Can we ask the politicians to stand and wave instead of the survivors?

There’s a lot of good ideas in the community, maybe the one’s who think they have to do all the thinking for us, should do some listening for a change.
Or don’t they want to hear Cantor Rowland, a beloved group of Holocaust survivors or even share credit with the University of Baltimore.
It didn’t fit in the “How to Put on a Community Event” handbook, I guess.

Apologies.

The Jewish Council owes U of B Law School a huge apology.
It also owes Cantor Rowland one as well.
Most of all, the Holocaust survivors. They stood in lines at death camps. Don’t make them stand in rows at Baltimore Hebrew.
They deserved better. So did we.

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“Why not politely inform everyone who could be offended by Cantor Rowland that they can stand in the hallway while she delivers the words of our sages. Or better yet, let’s just open up our programs and read it out loud together.”

I like your second suggestion.  As for the first suggestion, it was only a few years ago that Jewish legislators in Annapolis led a campaign to keep visiting clergymen from closing their invocations with, “In Jesus’ name we pray.”  What right have Jews to tell a Christian how to pray?  Why don’t the Jewish legislators just stand in the hallway until the clergyman has finished his invocation?

Certainly, no Jew would presume to attend a church service and tell the priest or minister not to pray in Jesus’ name.  But a legislative session is not a church service.  It’s a public gathering where all legislators should feel included and no one should have to go stand in the hallway.

Similarly, no Orthodox Jew would presume to attend a Reform service and tell the cantor not to sing because of kol isha.  But a Yom ha-Shoah gathering is not a Reform service, even if it is held in a Reform temple.  It’s a gathering of the entire Jewish community, where no Jew should have to “stand in the hallway” in order to obey the rules of his religion.

It would indeed have been better to have everyone present read the words of the memorial prayer aloud.