The Jewish Federation of Greater Portland’s Annual Meeting will be held on Thursday, June 6 at 7:00 p.m. at Congregation Neveh Shalom. It will be a special evening as we share information about new initiatives for the community, hear from Michael Masters, CEO of the Secure Community Network, and announce our record-breaking accomplishments. Please register here.

With the recent primary elections and exercising my civic duty/right to vote, I am feeling quite patriotic this week. To add to that, this weekend we commemorate Memorial Day. Sadly, for many, the day has become more about a long weekend and less about remembering and honoring our fallen soldiers.

Originally called Decoration Day, from the early tradition of decorating graves with flowers, wreaths, and flags, Memorial Day is a day for remembrance for those who died in service to our country. It was first widely observed on May 30, 1868 to commemorate the sacrifices of Civil War soldiers. However, President Lyndon Johnson declared Waterloo, New York the “birthplace” of Memorial Day since they held a ceremony on May 5, 1866 honoring local veterans who had fought in the Civil War.

During that first national commemoration, former Union General and sitting Ohio Congressman James Garfield (fun fact – my great-great-great grandfather made his shoes) delivered a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, after which 5,000 people helped decorate the graves of 20,000+ Union and Confederate soldiers buried there.

After World War I, the holiday became an occasion for honoring those who died in all of America’s wars and was more widely established as a national holiday throughout the United States. In 1971, Congress established Memorial Day was to be commemorated on the last Monday of May.

Jews have always played a role in the military. You can read an interesting article here. He are some facts from the article:

• The first Jewish officers in the New World fought in the French and Indian Wars. They were Jacob Judah, Michael Isaacs, Isaac Moses, and Isaac Meyers.

• George Washington directly commanded 40 Jewish soldiers.

• In South Carolina, about two dozen men recruited from a Jewish part of Charleston became known as a “Jews’ Company.”

• Jews helped finance the Revolutionary War. Haym Salomon lent a fortune to the Continental Congress. The money was never repaid, and Salomon was bankrupt when he died.

• Francis Salvador was the first Jew elected to public office as delegate to the first South Carolina Provincial Congress. He was also the first Jew to die in the Revolutionary War.

• During the Civil War, the banking firm of Seligman Brothers provided financial support to the Union Army.

• Judah Philip Benjamin served both as Secretary of War and Secretary of State for the Confederacy.

• Dr. David de Leon of South Carolina was the first Surgeon General of the Confederacy – and his counterpart for the Union was Dr. Jonathan Horowitz.

• When General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S Grant, present at the ceremony on April 9, 1865 was Benjamin B. Levy, one of a six Jews awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

• The only known Hebrew military cemetery outside of Israel is the U.S. Cemetery for Hebrew Confederate Soldiers in Richmond, Virginia, where 121 Jewish Confederate soldiers are buried.

• The famous photograph of U.S. Marines raising the flag atop Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima was taken by a Jew, Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press.

Something I did not know (and do not believe we observe) is that in late 2000, President Clinton signed into law “The National Moment of Remembrance Act.” The act encourages Americans to pause wherever they are at 3:00 p.m. local time on Memorial Day for a minute of silence to remember and honor those who died in service to the nation (similar to what Israel does on Yom HaZikaron, their memorial day, with sirens at 8:00 p.m. and 11:00 a.m.). This is one way we can all help put the “memorial” back in Memorial Day.

Something I do not typically do, I thought I would conclude this week’s email with a prayer written by Rabbi David Wirtschafter:

Service and Sacrifice: A Prayer for Memorial Day

God of Life and Death, Service and Sacrifice, Courage, and Compassion.

On this Sabbath, we gather together to remember those who died while serving our nation.

And to recognize the veterans who served, whether decades ago or only yesterday.

We are internally conflicted on the cost of our conflicts.

As idealists, we wish there were never any need for defense forces.

Yet as pragmatists, we know there will always be a need for them.

As dreamers, we pray for a day when “nation shall not lift up sword against nation, nor ever again study war.”

Yet as realists, we accept that there are circumstances where force must be met with force.

Torah teaches us to “seek peace and pursue it.”

Yet, it also declares that there are enemies that must be destroyed.

We thank our soldiers, sailors, and pilots, for doing that which we wish never needed to be done.

And we pray for a world where time and talent, strength, and intellect, can be spent in fighting disease, defeating poverty, and defending the downtrodden without having to take up arms.

God of Peace and War, Concord and Conflict, Hope and Heartbreak;

We pray that the sacrifices of our fallen will forever be remembered, and that recognition of our veterans not merely convey thanks but demonstrate it.

May we not merely “proclaim peace to those near and far” but bring peace by doing the work required to realize it.

May this be our blessing and let us say – Amen.

To those who have given their lives for our country and its ideals, and to their families, there can be no higher mitzvah. Thank you to those who served and are serving.

Shabbat shalom and have meaningful and memorable Memorial Day weekend.