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RABBI EPHRAIM GASTWIRTH (MANCHESTER, UK)
(IF YOU WISH TO REPLY BY MAIL - WE WILL PROVIDE THE MAILING ADDRESS)
18 DEC 98
THOUGHTS ON THE GASTWIRTH FAMILY WEBSITE
THERE IS EXCITEMENT AND WARMTH EMANATING FROM THE GASTWIRTH WEBSITE. WHOLE GROUPS OF FAMILIES HAVE JOIINED HANDS AND HEARTS IN SEEKING A COMMON ANCESTOR.
ASSUMING THAT WE FIND SUCH A PERSON, WHAT THEN? CAN WE THEN PUBLISH THE DEFINITIVE, AUTHORIZED FAMILY TREE AND CLOSE THE WEBSITE? DO WE THEN DANCE A TRIBAL DANCE AROUND THE TOTEM POLE REJOICING IN OUR NEW FOUND FAMILY? TO WHAT END?
WE ALREADY HAVE COMMON ANCESTORS IN OUR PATRIARCHS & IN LEVI FROM WHO MANY OF US ARE DIRECTLY DESCENDED. MY FATHER & GRANDFATHER ARE ALSO VERY MUCH ALIVE IN MY MIND. I FEEL A STRONG DUTY TO THEM TO MAINTAIN THE TRADITIONS THEY HELD SO PRECIOUS AND SO HOLY.
WHEN I SIT AT MY FAMILY TABLE ON SHABBAT OR YOM TOV, I CAN SENSE THEIR PRESENCE AS I SING THE TABLE SONGS, "ZEMMIOT", I LEARN FROM THEM. I LEARN THE SAME TORAH AND FOLLOW THEIR CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS. AND, I STRIVE TO HAND ON THESE SAME VALUES TO MY CHILDREN.
IT IS SO SAD TO SEE HOW MANY FAMILIES HAVE ABANDONED THE TRADITIONS AND DIVINE LAWS THAT HAVE SHAPED US AND MADE US A DISTINCT AND HOLY PEOPLE, LEAVING THEM AND THEIR DESCENDANTS TO SINK INTO THE SANDS OF TIME WITHOUT TRACE.
SENTIMENT ALONE, BEAUTIFUL AS IT IS, WILL NOT BE ENOUGH TO SUSTAIN US. IT IS THE STRONG DISCIPLINE, THE DAILY TEFFILIN, THE SHABBAT, KASHRUT, TORAH, TZITZIS, ETC., THE WHOLE TORAH OF SINAI THAT WILL KEEP US FUNCTIONING & FULFILL THE PURPOSE OF OUR LIVES. WE CAN NO MORE PICK AND CHOOSE THOSE BITS OF JUDAISM THAT WE LIKE, THAN WE CAN DISCARD THE PARTS OF A WATCH WE CONSIDER SUPERFLUOUS & EXPECT IT STILL TO TELL THE CORRECT TIME.
THE FUNCTION OF A GASTWIRTH FAMILY TREE, TO WHICH I SUBSCRIBE, IS TO EXPLORE OUR PAST AND TO BRING UP THE JEWELS AND TREASURES OF OUR ANCESTORS, SOME OF WHICH WERE LOST IN THE HOLOCAUST & THE POVERTY WHICH AFFLICTED MANY OF THEM, AND TO REPOLISH THOSE JEWELS AND BRING THEM BACK TO LIFE BY WEARING THEM PROUDLY. NOT TO PUT THEM IN A GLASS CASE IN A MUSEUM WHERE THEIR LUSTRE WILL GROW DIM, BUT TO INCORPORATE THEM INTO OUR LIVES, AND TO REVIVE THE SPIRIT OF HOLINESS WHICH ALONE KEPT OUR ANCESTORS ALIVE.
THE GASTWIRTH FAMILY ARE DESCENDANTS OF CHASSIDIM, AND MOST OF US ALSO FROM THE LEVVIM WHO PLAYED AND SANG IN THE HOLY TEMPLE, IN JERUSALEM. MY FATHER & GRANDFATHER SPOKE WITH AWE OF THEIR REBBES OF DJIKOV & ROPSHITZ AND SANZ. IT IS LITTLE SHORT OF MIRACULOUS THAT THESE DYNASTIES DO NOT MERELY SURVIVE BUT ARE GROWING AND FLOURISHING AS THE YOUNGER GENERATIONS SEEK OUT THOSE PRECIOUS VALUES THAT THEIR FATHERS WANTONLY DISCARDED IN THEIR STRUGGLE FOR A LIVLIHOOD.
(FOR A GLIMPSE INTO THE MAGIC OF THOSE TIMES READ, E.G. ELIE WIESEL; Souls on Fire : Portraits and Legends of Hasidic Masters AND Somewhere a Master : Further Hasidic Portraits and Legends.)
WE CANNOT, AND SHOULD NOT LIVE IN THE PAST. BUT NEITHER CAN WE GO FORWARD WITHOUT IT. HE WHO HAS NO PAST HAS NO FUTURE, & WE WHO ARE RESEARCHING OUR PAST CAN ONLY ENSURE THE FUTURE OF OUR CHILDREN IF WE ARE DETERMINED TO CARRY WITH US, AS HAND LUGGAGE, THE HOLINESS OF OUR ANCESTORS.
IF WE ARE SEARCHING OUT OUR ROOTS, IT MUST BE TO ATTACH OURSELVES TO THOSE ROOTS AND TO DRAW RENEWED STRENGTH AND INSPIRATION FROM THEM.
EPHRAIM GASTWIRTH
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