The Episcopal Church Welcomes You!

Friday, July 25, 2014

Match to Candle for Babi Yar



Many years ago Lorraine and I visited the National Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC.  It was an overwhelming experience.  As we moved through the museum from the top level to the bottom, the weight of humanity's inhumanity was crushing.

When we came at last to the Hall of Remembrance we found the eternal flame burning at the center of the hall, and the names of concentration camps and death camps were listed around the walls.  The public is invited to light memorial candles if they wish, and there were places in front of camp names where memorial candles are placed.

I decided to light a candle and offer prayers, and arbitrarily headed to one section of the wall.  I found myself standing before the memorial for Babi Yar, a ravine outside Kiev, Ukraine, where 100,000 Jews, Roma (Gypsies), communists, and others were executed by German authorities stationed in Kiev.

Being of Ukrainian descent I sat and wept uncontrollably.  My family had a history in Ukraine (though from the Western region).  My heart was broken - shattered - by a sense of cultural duplicity.

In 2006 my brother Will and I traveled to Ukraine for two weeks during part of my sabbatical.  We spent a few days in Kiev and actually had the opportunity to visit the memorial at Babi Yar.  I couldn't bring myself to visit - and years later wish that I had.

This poem has taken shape over the years; finding its first incarnation shortly after my visit to Ukraine in 2006.  A couple of years ago I served on an interfaith panel at the Yavneh Jewish Renewal Community in Raleigh, NC.  Our topic brought Babi Yar back to mind, and the bulk of this poem took shape.

As my 2014 sabbatical comes to a close I came across the last draft in a journal of mine.  I was compelled to complete the work.


Match to Candle for Babi Yar

Match to candle
            for Babi Yar.
Beside th’eternal flame I sat
            and wept
                        for sins long past
and new.

One hundred thousand candles –
            their wicks quenched.
And so I met the ghosts
            of Babi Yar
in the hall of holy remembrance.

Match to candle
            for Babi Yar.
Too few were among the righteous –
            too many were left behind.
Yet to save one soul from death
            is to save a whole world.

Dare we name the horror –
            that which is buried deep?
Dare we seek its hateful remnant       
            hiding deep within our hearts?

Dare we confess our own sins,
            face our own scarred souls,
                and light a candle
                        for Babi Yar?

                                              
  Jim Melnyk 7/25/2014