Spirit and Story Archive

Welcome to Spirit and Story, where you will find the latest thoughts and reflections by CLAL faculty and associates on the contours of our contemporary spiritual journeys. Every other week you will find something new and (hopefully) engaging here!

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Nightwords: A Liturgy on the Holocaust

Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, recalls the darkest period in modern Jewish history, when the kingdom of night descended upon the body and soul of the Jewish people.

As a people, we have barely begun to assimilate the meaning of the losses we suffered, let alone recover from them. On Yom Hashoah, we endeavor to recall an event so horrible as to be, quite literally, unimaginable. And we struggle to find a way to honor and sanctify the memory of those who lived and died in the darkest of times.

Throughout the ages the Jewish people have responded to the deeply felt need to remember our collective tragedies and triumphs by creating liturgies that enable recollection and sanctification. The Passover Haggadah is such a liturgy.

The human and theological challenge of memorializing the Holocaust is immense. But the refining work of recollection and liturgical sanctification is underway and engages the souls of many of our most sensitive and creative liturgists.

This year, for Yom Hashoah, CLAL presents Nightwords: A Liturgy on the Holocaust, a profound new work of liturgical sanctification created and compiled by David G. Roskies.

To download and open Nightwords: A Liturgy on the Holocaust click here: Nightwords

In order to view and download the liturgy, you will need to have an Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have the Adobe Acrobat Reader you can download it for free by clicking on the following link:

In addition to presenting the work, we include the following introduction in which David Roskies explains how he came to create the work.

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