Anne Askey
Last weekend, we were treated to a fascinating talk on Purim, its role as a memorial and how the role of questions continue to unearth further lessons and meanings for the modern reader.
Here were some gems that we noted from the talk:
“Without memory a people is doomed to live only in the present. (This is the tragedy of Alzheimer’s disease – individuals who have lost their ability to remember live only in the present and as the disease progresses, they may in fact lose any sense of who they are.) Much the same way, a people group ceases to be a people group if it loses its collective memory. Civilizations that have lost their collective memory are in fact lost civilizations. They no longer exist.”
“Abraham Joshua Heschel, one of the greatest Jewish thinkers of the 20th Century reminds us that the essential things in Judaism are not abstract ideas but concrete events. God reveals himself in Concrete ACTION and EVENTS and Jews remember the events. They are not a people who define God, but a people who, through remembering, are witnesses to God’s existence.”
If you would like to obtain the PowerPoint slides and her speaking notes, click here and here.
Anne Askey is an Educator and currently teaches at the Halswell Residential School. We are privileged to count her as a long time Friend of Israel.
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