Special Bulletin 02-2010

     It will always be our responsibility to remember. As Edmond Burke stated, “Those who do not know history are destined to repeat it.” What took place on this date, November 10, seventy-three years ago, brings the story of “Crystal Night”. The horrors it released across Europe carried Western Civilization into some of its most uncivilized times. This must never be forgotten so that it may never be repeated.

     On “Crystal Night,” or “The Night of the Broken Glass,” Jewish homes, shops and synagogues were ransacked across Germany, and many were burned, as storm troopers and civilians attacked Jewish property with sledgehammers, rocks and anything with which they could cause damage. Ninety-one Jews were killed and 30,000 Jewish men were taken to concentration camps, beginning the atrocity that would eventually lead to the murder of six million Jews - one of the darkest times in human history.

     To remember this evil and incomprehensibly terrible tragedy, The Oak Initiative is setting aside the month of November to honor our Jewish neighbors beginning on this day. We are asking all of our Oak Initiative chapters and members to contact their Jewish neighbors, Jewish synagogues, or cultural centers and let them know how much we appreciate them and are honored to have them as neighbors. We also want to express our belief that the Jewish people have fulfilled the promise of God to Abraham that his descendants would be a blessing to every family on the face of the earth. If you can, please purchase and give to them a gift of crystal as a token of our appreciation for them, and how we are resolved to stand with them and never let the tragedy that befell them in Europe ever be forgotten, or happen to them again.

Printer Friendly Version (PDF) Special Bulletin #2-2010