Last week at Temple Beth Or’s Erev Shabbat service, Rabbi Ari Margolis offered a heartfelt blessing for my journey to honor the legacy of Rabbi Regina Jonas. Just weeks prior, I had the privilege of praying for Rabbi Margolis and fellow congregants traveling to Israel, wishing them spiritual growth and a stronger connection to their heritage. However, Rabbi Margolis’ Safe Travel Prayer carried a different weight, a sense of urgency that reflected the shifting global landscape. In the short time between these prayers, the relative peace in Israel had been replaced by the somber reality of “Protective Edge,” and the tragic downing of Malaysian flight MH17 served as a brutal reminder that the specter of terror is not a distant historical event, but a present-day threat.
The downing of MH17, a civilian aircraft brought down by military weaponry, amplified the chorus of safe travel prayers directed my way. My husband, son, close friends, and even acquaintances offered their own words of caution and blessings for a safe journey. This heightened awareness of life’s fragility, undeniably linked to recent global events, has also sharpened my focus on the profound tragedy that overshadowed Rabbi Regina Jonas’ groundbreaking achievement. She was the first woman to be ordained as a rabbi after convincing a yeshiva of her calling. Our journey serves a dual purpose: to celebrate Rabbi Jonas’s extraordinary accomplishment, a beacon for women in religious leadership decades ahead of her time, and to confront the horrific reality of the Shoah that tragically cut her life short. Her hard-won ordination, which should have paved the way for generations of women to enrich Jewish communities, was nearly lost in the ashes of the Holocaust, another casualty among the Six Million.
Today’s pervasive sense of unease and the ever-present threat of terror only intensify my commitment to delve into the life of Rabbi Regina Jonas, not only as a pioneering rabbi but as a complete individual. This exploration resonates deeply, fueling my determination to remember the Six Million as more than just a number representing unimaginable horror. It underscores why we cannot simply categorize the 298 lives lost over Ukraine as collateral damage in a geopolitical conflict. Each one of them, from those murdered in the Holocaust to those lost on Malaysian flight MH17, represents a life unfulfilled. Each person possessed passions, dreams, aspirations, and accomplishments.
Each one of them had a name. As we dedicate a plaque to the courageous Rabbi Regina Jonas during our travels, we are not only rescuing her name and legacy but also affirming the profound debt every woman rabbi owes to this remarkable woman, one among the Six Million. In offering safe travel prayers, we acknowledge not only our personal hopes for protection but also our collective responsibility to remember and honor every individual life, especially in a world too often marked by tragedy and loss. Our prayers become a powerful act of remembrance, resilience, and hope for a safer, more compassionate world.
