The Garbage Can of History

Strengthen Your Walk
Written By Jahan Berns

Photo: View of the Children's Memorial at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem on September 18, 2014 by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90

I have a wonderful Jewish friend that works at Yad Vashem (The World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem). He recently forwarded me the following article written by Sivan Rahab-Meir an Israeli journalist, news reporter, and TV and radio anchor. It is titled, “Take a moment to look in the garbage can of history!”

"Who is your hero?" the editor asked me.  "We are preparing an entire supplement about heroes." Here is what I wrote:

 My hero's name is Matanya Tzur Aryeh.  He is not a biblical hero, despite his name. He is a boy from the village of Kfar Maimon in Otaf, whose residents now live in hotels in Jerusalem, since the terrifying moments of the Simchat Torah morning, since they were rescued from their beloved settlement during those difficult times.

It started with a slightly delusional WhatsApp message that I received from Shani Luria: "I am the director of a new school for the children of the evacuees, which operates within 'Yad Vashem'. Can you come talk to the students?".

 The next day, inside the International School for the Teaching of the Holocaust at Yad Vashem, I saw a school for everything, which was established within a few days, from kindergarten to 12th grade. About 400 students study there.

Scary pictures from the Holocaust era have been removed or hidden.  Volunteer teachers, retirees, Yad Vashem workers, all mobilized for the sacred work of education.  Toys were donated to the kindergarten, the municipality brought bags and notebooks, and I entered the high school classes, 9th through 12th, which had just received an orderly timetable.

"What gives you strength these days?", I asked them and received many answers.  "Music", answered many of the youth, and one also started singing "even in the worst hours of the night...".  Others answered that their friends at the hotel, their parents and family, the faith, the IDF, the unity of the nation.

Then a blond boy with long sideburns raised his hand and said: "The dustbin of history."  I asked for an explanation, and Matanya Tzur Aryeh said: "I look at our history and who has been thrown into the trash can over the generations. If we lift the lid of the trash can, we will see inside Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, Amalek, Antiochus, Nebuchadnezzar,  Titus, Haman, Ahasuerus, Pharaoh…

All the wicked are there, all the scum.  The world is moving forward, there is a plan here, evil is not here to stay, it is temporary.  The nation of Israel is small but eternal and strong, and the place of Sinwar and Nasrallah is also there, in the trash.  Hamas and Hezbollah and Iran, they will all end up in the dustbin of history, soon."

And as much as I knew all this in my mind, I suddenly felt it in my heart as well.  Matanya, with a gentle smile, managed to interpret reality for me better than any commentator.  Then we talked.  He usually studies at the Carmi Katif High School.  The entire family is staying at the Leonardo Plaza Hotel, misses home very much, but is willing to wait as long as necessary to return to a completely different security reality, which will change the equation.

Matanya and all the youth in that class demonstrated maturity, responsibility, intelligence.  We told ourselves a lot of fake news about ourselves before the war.  We also shamed this youth.  "Spoilt", "the TikTok generation", and here they are revealed in all their beauty in this period.

Since then I have been passing on this garbage can story, hoping that it will give strength and proportion to others as well.  Let's get the garbage down, soon.”

Best,

Jahan

We are in a critical time in history for the nation of Israel. Want to engage more?

Jahan Berns
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