This past week was World Interfaith Harmony Week, a period dedicated to finding unity between our different religious beliefs and finding common values that can help unite us as opposed to dividing—we are all human after all.
These past two weeks have been full of reflection. Just over a week ago on January 29th was International Holocaust Remembrance Day. It was the 80th anniversary of the Red Army liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, one of many concentration camps, and a day to remember the six million Jewish people who were murdered during the Holocaust for no reason other than being Jewish.
As a part of World Interfaith Harmony Week, I visited the astronomy tower with the Multi-Faith Centre and Hart House for their Cosmic Wisdom event. As a group, we had the chance to look into two telescopes and see Jupiter and the craters of the moon. I also got to share a film I made reflecting on the celestial objects that connect every living being on Earth throughout time and space. I thought about how we are under the same sun and stars that have witnessed every joy and every suffering on Earth, with the hope for peaceful coexistence.
It's been hard to put into words how it felt reflecting on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. This year, I visited the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach and have been reading books from survivors––both heart-wrenching experiences. The Choice by Edith Eva Eger is an incredibly impactful memoir by a Holocaust survivor who, at the time of the Holocaust, was only 16 years old. All under the same sun, the same stars, the same moon as I sit now, she describes being rounded up to an abandoned brick house with the rest of her town’s Jewish community. Her family was forced onto a cattle car stuffed with Jewish people on a train to a death camp. At the camp, everything was systematic. The elders, women with young children and babies were separated from those considered able to work. They didn't know what was to come, that one line led to gas chambers and the other led to another nightmare of torture. Their heads and bodies were shaved. They were seen as sub-human. And yet, under the same sun, Edith survived. She now gives talks to help others find hope, even in the darkest of times. I coincidently stumbled upon a virtual webinar titled "HARNESSING HOPE: Find Peace & Purpose in an Uncertain World." She happened to be holding it a day after I finished her book. It was surreal after just having read the absolute horrors, trauma and PTSD she had gone through to then be sharing a virtual space with her at 97 years old with one of her daughters and her grandson. The sun sets and rises over every conflict in history. Every beginning and every end. The sun has set and risen over neighbours turning on neighbours. But, it has also set and risen over peace, the possibility for sworn enemies to shake hands.
The lessons Edith shares on finding hope, even in the utmost darkest of times, show the power of choice. Under this one sun we can choose anger, revenge, hatred and evil, but we can also choose to love. The fact that despite everything that happened to her that she chose love, speaks volumes. She says, "I have three kids, five grandkids and seven great grandsons and that's my revenge to Hitler." We each have the choice in our daily lives to choose what side of ourselves we want to act on. We’re more connected to each other than we think, as Professor Simon Appolloni discussed at Cosmic Wisdoms; we are all made of stars. The Multi-Faith Centre proves that people of all faiths, ethnicities and cultures can share a space, celebrate each other’s differences and support each other during difficult times, and for that I am grateful. Educating yourself on the atrocities of the Holocaust is essential; antisemitism and hate did not end at liberation. Listen to survivors, read their memoirs and never be silent in the face of hatred. Let World Interfaith Harmony Week last 365 days a year.
– Sammi