Throughout our country today we commemorate Memorial Day, a day reserved to honor and grieve those who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. Many of us will be gathering with friends and family, perhaps connecting with circles of loved ones from whom we have been separated for many months. Let us use this time earmarked for remembrance as an opportunity to express our gratitude and to share in our bereavement for those who perished in service to our country, to heal from the many wounds of this past year, and to look to the future of our community, our country, and our world with renewed confidence and hope.
There is a Jewish custom to light a memorial candle in honor of a loved one on their yahrzeit (the anniversary of their passing) or on special days of remembrance. For those of us thinking of a loved one on this Memorial Day, or for any of us who have the intention of honoring our fallen service members today, I encourage you to light a yahrzeit candle. May these words of blessing from Mishkan T’filah for the House of Mourning, be a comfort for us all:
Grant us strength to endure what cannot be escaped,
And courage to continue with no bitterness or despair.
Let us find You, God,
In the love of friends and family,
In the deep recesses of our being,
In the hearts that open to us, when it seems that love has vanished.
May this candle rekindle in us strength and hope,
May this light shine with the certainty of Your Presence, O God,
Here and now,
In this home at this hour
As we remember.
Blessed is the Eternal One, who has implanted within us eternal life.
— Cantor Emma Lutz