[dropcap]The[/dropcap] Egyptians, the Babylonians and the Persians rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greeks and Romans followed and made a vast noise, and they were gone; other people have sprung up and held their torch high for a time but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, and have vanished.

The Jew saw them all, survived them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities, of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert but aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jews; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?

Could the secret be remembrance? Is that the answer to Mark Twain’s question which for millennia has confounded great minds and evil dictators alike?

Put the answer a different way: Is there anything less Jewish than cancel culture — cancelling memory?

Throughout the Torah, Jews are enjoined by G-d to remember.

“Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.”

“Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey.”

“Always remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt.”

Remembrance is not only an obligation; it is the essence of the Jewish people’s relationship with G-d. In the Passover Haggadah, the seminal work of Jewish remembrance, Jews praise G-d for remembering His covenant with Abraham, that the Jewish people would be enslaved but that He would free them.

Cancel culture, however, erases. It tells us that evil people should be forgotten; that remembering the sins of the past is not a value to strive for. Cancel culture tells us that sinners cannot be remembered for their positive contributions.

Cancel culture requires universal sainthood.

Fundamentally, cancel culture tells us that erasure — not remembrance — nurtures human growth and progress.

The Torah tells us the opposite: Human error and folly should not be erased from our memories, but explored and analyzed. Human error and folly are to be acknowledged and thus become spurs to growth. Examine every single character in the Bible. Is even one perfect? Yet millennia later, we continue to study them, continue to revere them, continue to learn from them — from their great achievements, as well as from their lowest points.

Cancel culture — thus far — offers no replacement. Its impetus is destruction.

Does ridding a neighborhood of Stapleton’s name help us and future generations understand and remember the role the Ku Klux Klan played in Denver politics? More likely, Stapleton will gradually be forgotten.

Does removing a statue of Kit Carson help us remember the fortitude of pioneers — as well as the genocidal instincts toward American Indians? Or will both simply be tossed away? We shall learn neither the good nor the bad. And we’ll be the lesser for it.

Mark Twain asked: How have Jews continued to survive — indeed thrive — despite ongoing oppression and persecution? By remembrance. Not as a tool wielded against those who have oppressed us. But as a reminder of where we’ve been, what our values are and what we continue to strive for.

Copyright © 2020 by the Intermountain Jewish News