The Sins of the Fathers

Germany 's biggest synagogue, in Berlin, has reopened after a lavish restoration.  The synagogue was set ablaze on Kristallnacht, the Night of
Broken Glass, in 1938.  Holocaust survivors from all  over the world attended the "grand re-opening".

Perhaps there is something wrong with me; I feel no joy in this news.  There is nothing anyone in Germany can ever do that will mitigate even a drop of water's worth of guilt in an ocean of evil.

I was born a few years after the Holocaust "ended".  But to Jews everywhere, and especially to the families of Victims and Survivors, as I am, I assure you, it will never, ever be "over".  Ghosts of uncountable lives destroyed, children tortured and murdered, villages and towns that vanished without a trace, visions of my cousin and aunt and uncle gassed in ovens - these haunt my soul and sometimes fill my nights with terror. 

I do not forget, nor do I forgive.  I do not.  

I hear about how the children and grandchildren of the evil-doers, the murderers, the crazy hate-infested monsters, feel "guilty" and "ashamed".  Good.  I really don't care.  I wish upon them just a little of the horror their grandparents inflicted on other innocent children.  It is fitting they should answer in some small way for the sins of their fathers. 

I am sure that is what this "restoration" of what can never be restored is all about.