by Linda Laderman (Commerce Township, MI)
Praise the Holocaust Survivors who ask us never to forget, but live life
in the present and the future. Praise their resilience, the ones who dance
the Hora at their grandchildren’s weddings, the grandchildren they couldn’t
imagine they’d have, the weddings they couldn’t dream would take place.
Praise the pastries they take home wrapped in a napkin, because they can’t
know for sure if the cake will have to be left in haste, a dish of dry crumbs.
Praise their unwillingness to take freedom for granted, to refuse to bow to
the demands of demagogues, to stay clear-eyed about our new fear mongers.
Praise the man who hid in plain sight, moving from place to place to evade
the Jew hatred, then began a life in America where he believed he was safe.
Praise him, and his wife, who at 83, bakes cookies because, she says, every-
one deserves sweetness in their life. Praise the children who come to visit
the Holocaust Center, then walk wide-eyed around the train exhibit, and ask
why Jews were forced into cattle cars. Praise their young eyes, because they see.
Linda Laderman grew up in Toledo, Ohio, where her family belonged to B’nai Israel Synagogue. Though she attended Hebrew and Sunday School, no one spoke of the Holocaust. In 1959, when she was ten, Linda had a Hebrew teacher with numbers tattooed in her arm. Curious, she asked what they were, but her question went unanswered. Years later, as a docent at The Zekeleman Holocaust Center near Detroit, she came to better understand the reluctance of many survivors to talk about their painful past. Linda is a past recipient of Harbor Review’s Jewish Women’s Prize and has received a Pushcart Prize nomination. Her poetry and prose have appeared in many literary journals and media outlets. She lives near Detroit with her husband Israel Grinwald. Linda dedicates this Sonnet to the survivors of the Shoah. For the six million who did not survive, may their memory be a blessing.
If you’d like to read more of her work, here are two poems that she shared previously with The Jewish Writing Project: Observations and An Invitation.
The Jewish Writing Project 