I believe

By Hazzan Jenna Greenberg.

I believe in the sun, even in the darkness.
I believe in God, even if God is silent.
I believe in compassion, even when it must remain hidden.

This poem was found written in German scrawled on a wall in Germany at the end of World War II. While its author is unknown, it is clear that these hopeful words were meant to be shared with others. At a time of such tragedy in Europe, a glimmer of hope was communicated through these words, a text that one could have kept to themselves, yet the poet found a glimmer of light in the darkness and left it to be discovered at the end of the Holocaust.

Hundreds of years prior to the Shoah, Maimonides wrote a text that begins with the same two words as this German poem: Ani Maamin, I believe. These words begin each of the 13 lines that poetically describe the principles of faith. It is the penultimate line that has become the Ani Maamin text with which we are most familiar: I believe with perfect faith in the coming of Mashiach; and even though he may delay, I will await him every day.

Both of these texts are ultimately prayers of hope and faith, that even in the darkest of times, we must believe that better times are ahead. We all know how often history has repeated itself throughout our people’s existence. It is no wonder that Hatikva, the hope, is the title and theme of the national anthem of the Jewish people.

Through the recitation and singing of these hopeful words of Ani Maamin, we continue to pray for the horrors of the Shoah to never occur again. We sing these words on this day, on Yom haShoah, as we hope for a time when our people are no longer punished and persecuted just for being Jewish.

May the memories of all Jews and other innocent victims who perished in the Holocaust be for a blessing, and that such tragedy never befalls our people again.

Zichronam livracha.