Remembrance and Renewal: Honoring Rabbi Aaron D. Panken, Ph.D., z”l

"Our celebration comes, this year, amidst a particularly challenging and painful world, one that in many respects transcends anything I have seen in my lifetime. We now live in a world in which truth is distorted, basic institutions of American life like the press, the courts, the electoral system, the FBI, the beautiful mosaic of immigration that made this country what it is, the dignity and value of public leadership and civil service, egalitarianism and a woman's right to choose, and so many others, are threatened in ways we simply could not have imagined a few years ago. We see countries long civilized and democratic reverting to policies of nationalism and tactics of scapegoating reminiscent of our darkest times. We labor under the challenges of privacy and the ability for noxious leaders to spread their message ever more broadly and more efficiently through warped use of social media, cynical and often violent supremacist protests, and through the abhorrent targeting of innocent immigrants as vicious criminals.

"But here's the thing: the Jewish people, and our religious friends of other faiths, have seen this before, and we have lived through it, and thrived and built again and again and again. We are not a people of whiners, of those who say "this is the end and there is nothing we can do about it." We are a people of action and courage, of innovation and and fearlessness, of adaptation and endless creativity."

Rabbi Aaron D. Panken, Ph.D., z"l
May 3, 2018