Persevering Through History
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Holocaust Memorial Museum of San Antonio’s (HMMSA’s) establishment on the Campus of the San Antonio Jewish Community! The museum’s impact and reach has grown tremendously since 2000, with over 45,000 students per year now being taught the dangers of hatred, prejudice, and apathy and learning the importance of good citizenship, democratic values, and respect for human dignity.
This week’s torah portion, Tetzaveh, is about the joyous dedication of the second Holy Temple on the site of First Temple in Jerusalem. While I don’t intend to juxtapose our museum to the Holy Temple, the celebration of the Temple’s dedication made me think of this milestone in the museum’s history. It also conjures the holiness of the museum’s work, both in remembering the six million Jews who were murdered and in making sure the lessons of the Holocaust continue to be imparted.
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As the daughter of Holocaust survivors, the mission of the museum is very near and dear to my heart. Admittedly, as a Jewish child and teen, I was tired of hearing about the Holocaust, particularly from the gruesome footage they showed us at Hebrew high school. I hadn’t realized the political, economic, and other forces that lead up to this state-sponsored, systematic, and industrialized mass murder of six million of our people. I learned these facts at the museum and am now able to teach them to groups that visit the museum, as well as impart the remarkable facts of my parents’ survival.
If you haven’t yet visited the HMMSA, I hope that you will come, either individually or with a group, to learn the many angles of this history, beyond the brutality and horrors. Reservations for private tours of 10 or more are welcomed. Please keep an eye out for the 25th anniversary events!
Varda Ratner
Board Member, Jewish Federation of San Antonio