I AM still on a high from Aly Raismans gold medal win. I wouldnt say it is a repair for the IOCs shameful decision to reject a moment of silence for the 40th anniversary of the 1972 Munich massacre of 11 innocent Israeli Olympians. But the moment was a bit of a balm to the passed over commemoration.
The IOC claims to have chosen not to commemorate the Munich massacre by holding one minute of silence at its opening ceremonies because it wants the Olympics to remain above politics. Interesting hypocrisy, since the IOC commemorated the 7/7 London bombings, not to mention 9/11.
How would it have been political to acknowledge and commemorate a heinous atrocity of murdered Olympians, regardless of ethnicity? The massacre violated the very essence of humanity that the Olympics claims as one of its core values. I dont understand what would be a more appropriate venue for the commemoration of murder at the Olympics than the Olympics itself?
By withholding the moment of silence, the IOC may have tried to silence the memory of the Munich massacre. Despite this choice to kowtow to Arab pressure instead of doing what was right and standing up for decency, the IOC silence its refusal to pause for those lost innocent lives was very audible at the Olympics.
In both quiet and public acts of solidarity with Israel and the Jewish people, courageous souls here and there made that passed over moment of silence reverberate at the Olympics and around the world.
In defiance of the IOCs choice for public amnesia over memory, the Italian team staged its own moment of silence outside the Israeli athletes quarters.
STUNNINGLY, French swimmer Fabien Gilot moved us all with his raised arm at his side while swimming the crawl, only to reveal his arm engraved with the black Hebrew letters forming the statement: ani kloom billadeihem, I am nothing without them.
Intuitively, these people understand what is buried inside every Jew: memory.
A yizkor candle always burns somewhere. In a shul or a home. Thats what we Jews do. We remember. It is a cradle of Judaism. And at this Olympics, these brave souls chose to join flames with the Jewish flames of yizkor, of memory, that litter and sear Jewish paths.
As much as Jews are the people of the book, we are the people of memory. When the pinnacle of personal joy is celebrated at a Jewish wedding, before the merriment begins, we complete the ceremony by shattering a glass in commemoration of the sadness of the destruction of the ancient Holy Temples and all that is broken in the world.
To hold a moment of silence at the inauguration of the Olympic games would have been the shattered glass, the pause in homage to the past, before the merriment begins. Being Jewish is a symphony of memory.
It wasnt to be, though, and instead of the formal ceremony, the moment of silence, we found out who our loyal friends are.
THEN came the Jewish American gymnast Aly Raismans glorious floor exercise. Aly chose the popular cultural Jewish anthem Hava Nagila as her score, as she elegantly and gracefully moved through the choreographed gymnastics routine. The Jewish pride was palpable! The catchy happy notes of the song almost told of the gold medal joy to come.
A girl of such a young age, she had the pride and confidence to pay homage to her heritage at an Olympics that overlooked her people. In that moment, as she put a smile on many faces, as the audience cheered her on and clapped to Hava Nagila, yes, she walked away with a gold medal for her incredible athletic prowess, but also for her way of giving tribute in front of millions of viewers to those we shall always remember, the victims, the athletes in the senseless Munich massacre.
Now that was truly golden.
Copyright © 2012 by the Intermountain Jewish News
