Memory, seemingly the simplest of human acts, is tricky in the face of tragedy. Perhaps observers of Tisha bAv, whose acts of memory took centuries to devise, can lend some insight to the memory, and the memorialization, of the Aurora massacre.
Much has been made of the first anniversary of the horrible shooting — the infinitely painful killing of innocents — in the Aurora theater a year ago, July 20. It was time to remember — the emotion was felt strongly by the survivors, their families and much of the populace.
It struck us as instructive that this instinct for memory occurred just a few days after Tisha b’Av, the Jewish holiday (if it can be called that) of memory — the date marking the destruction of the ancient Holy Temples in Jerusalem and the loss of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel. Jews have been practicing memory, and meditating on it, for nearly 2,000 years. Perhaps we have something to add to the discussion around the Aurora anniversary.
First and foremost, if we are bidden to remember events of 2,000 years ago, all the more so is it appropriate and salutary to remember events of one year ago. The victims were our neighbors, and that kind of neighbor — cut down in his prime — is no less of a neighbor for the passage of time, even the passage of millennia.
Clearly, however, there are differences between some of what was expressed on the Aurora shooting anniversary and between the elements of memory and memorialization that have evolved over the centuries around Tisha b’Av. One difference is the emphasis, in the Aurora context, on healing. Way too early for that, those who mark Tisha b’Av would say. Some wounds, in fact, can never be healed; even more, should never be healed. The massive loss of life to a vile enemy is one such wound.
Indeed, the point of memory on Tisha b’Av is to make certain that we do not forget, that we relive the pain, that the injustice and sorrow never fade away with time.
To be sure, that the immediate relatives of the innocent victims in Aurora need to find a way to go on is imperative. But it is not only the immediate survivors who remember Aurora, and who want to remember this evil marker in our metropolis’ history. For the rest of us, the challenge is not to forget, not to “put this behind us” or “move on.” The approach of Tisha b’Av teaches the opposite.
Then, of course, there is the matter of memorials, of some concrete reminder of what happened, of what to do at the site of the evil and of what other memorial (if any) to erect. The approach of Tisha b’Av to this matter is clear: Wait. Ponder. Think. Remember. Feel the pain. Let it all sink in. Do not fool yourself — your collective self — that a year is enough. Perhaps not even a century is enough.
In our faster world of instant communication and expectation, it would be impractical and, indeed, meaningless to wait a century to devise an appropriate memorial for the Aurora massacre. But a year or three or five — a decent period of time for the mind to settle, for the suffering to shake out, for the ramifications to become clearer — is appropriate.
The human being seeks meaning after the fact. Meaning, however, is not always to be found, but the memory of the victims, the horror of the event, the need to address its causes, should remain imperatives. These, we hope, are behind the instinct to remember the Aurora massacre on its first anniversary.
Copyright © 2013 by the Intermountain Jewish News
