As Jews, we are very proud of our history. History connects us to our illustrious past and gives us guidelines on how to live our lives. By remembering our ancestors, it gives us hope and encouragement for our present and future. One of the High Holiday themes is remembrance. In the Musaf of Rosh Ashana, we are referring to God as the One who remembers the creation of the world and everything that came after. Immediately after that paragraph, the prayer of Musaf continues by praising humans who do not forget about God. I believe that this prayer teaches us that in order to create a relationship with Hashem, it is a two way street, where both parties remember each other.
By doing so, we build an unbreakable bond with the Almighty. The same idea applies with our past. In order to remember it, we have to research and look into it. By doing so, we create a connection that will accompany us for the rest of our lives. My mother of blessed memory who was born in Mogador, Morocco told me on numerous occasions how she remembers as a child, she woke up during the month of Elul (the month preceding Rosh Ashana) to the beautiful melodies that were bursting out from the synagogue that was next door to her house. It is a childhood memory that she cherished and preserved. This description is something that accompanies me every time I recite the Selihot, and it gives me a purpose and a reason to exist.
Thank God, Sephardic Judaism has been blessed with an illustrious history and long history! Sephardic Jewry has been a beacon of light to many other communities. While we should be proud to be part of such a rich history and continue on with what we are doing, we have to ask ourselves what we are doing to ensure the continuity of our traditions.
I truly believe that the best way to ensure its continuity is by taking our traditions to heart; research them, ask about them, practice them and thus make them part of our lives, perpetuating them to our children and generations to come.
On behalf of my Kehila, my family and myself, I wish you all a good year filled with health and meaning. Tizku Leshanim Rabot!
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