Guardian of Your Dead

There is no word for “history” in the entire Hebrew Bible. The word used instead is “zachor” (or one of its variant forms) and it is used 169 times to be exact. Zachor means “memory,” not history.

What is the difference between history and memory?

England’s former Chief Rabbi, Dr. Jonathan Sacks answers this best: “History is his story – an event that happened some other time to someone else. Memory is my story – something that happened to me and is a part of who I am. History is information. Memory, by contrast, is part of identity.”

At certain times a year Jews recite memorial prayers called, Yizkor. Yizkor means memory. It is not about looking backwards into history. Rather, this is an opportunity to stand where you are in the present and remember your loved one, their story, your story, and your story together, “our story.”

It isn’t about the death of your loved one, but about their life.

When we remember we not only keep their story alive; we keep them alive.

As it has been said, a person dies two deaths: once when their body dies and another when their story dies. Although there is nothing we can do about bodily death, there is everything we can do about the death of their story. It does not have to die, must not die and will not die.

They have you.

That is why you are here.

You are the guardian of their story so tell their story.

You guard their story through speaking their name.

You guard their story through telling their stories.

You guard their story through your actions and the way you live.

You guard their story through being alive and living fully, loving fiercely, not in spite of their absence, but because of it. You live for yourself. You live for those around you. You live for them.

You are the guardian of their story so guard their story and live your life!

Rabbi B