"There is a crack in everything; that's how the light gets in.” Leonard Cohen
Thank you to the wonderful musicians of A Broken Hallelujah at Temple Beth Israel last night, produced by the Institute for Judaic Studies and Temple Beth Israel. On the anniversary of Kristallnacht and the yahrzeit of Leonard Cohen's death, it was a solace and healing of spirit. The music and readings were exhilarating and gorgeously performed!
Earlier in the day, as a speaker with the Oregon Jewish Museum and Holocaust Education Center speakers bureau, I shared the story of our beloved friend Frank Wesley, of blessed memory, to students in Forest Grove. My presentation included excerpts from the film Frank’s Song, by our friend David Bee.
I am always moved that Frank's joy and spirit transcended his experience of being interred at Buchenwald. After his mysterious release and expulsion from Germany, Frank made his way to the United States and Portland, gained citizenship, joined the United States Army, and was sent to Germany where he participated in the liberation of Buchenwald.
It was heartbreaking that, as he was dying days before his 97th birthday, he was recalling the years of being in a concentration camp and the genocide. When his niece, Eileen Wesley asked if he wanted to see a rabbi, he said yes. Our wonderful Rabbi Michael Cahana visited with Frank not long before he died. I pray that brought him peace. This is part of the story I tell the students.
“I will put a rainbow in the clouds to be a sign of my covenant,” G-d said to Noah.
As we drove away from Forest Grove on the rainy day, sunlight through a crack in the clouds formed a rainbow that arched across the farmland. That “promise,” along with the concert/service last night at Temple Beth Israel, brought the light in during this current time of conflict and threat of oppression in our own land. But the light gets in. It shone last night.
The entire crowd that filled the Temple sang along with Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.
HALLELUJAH!
