The Secret of Redemption

It is November 2013, nearly thirty years after Rabbi Levin taught and comforted refusenik families in the former Soviet Union and presided over the twinning of his bat mitzvah student, Simone Da Costa, with Sanna Tsivkin of Leningrad. Rabbi Levin is currently serving a synagogue in northern Manhattan which consists of a substantial number of Holocaust survivors. As his congregation observes the seventy-fifth anniversary of Kristallnacht, he is acutely aware of hatred of the other in America. Inequality, discrimination, segregation, violence against racial minorities, anti-Semitic incidents, and anti-immigrant bias were in full force. ICE was bearing down hard upon illegal immigrants. Many have taken refuge in religious institutions to avoid deportation and family separation. The ghosts of 1938 have reappeared on the synagogue’s doorstep. Both Kristallnacht and its aftermath and the plight of Soviet Jewry seem as if they had only happened yesterday.Thousands of miles away, Rabbi Levin’s daughter, Bracha, engages in graduate work at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and works for a human rights organization. She is on the front lines of the ongoing Israel-Palestinian conflict As a lover of Zion who is saddened by acts of terrorism perpetrated against her own people, she witnesses prejudice and violations of human rights and becomes disillusioned.A famous saying attributed to the Baal Shem Tov states that forgetfulness leads to exile, but remembrance is the secret of redemption. The upcoming observance of Kristallnacht sets off a chain of events which would lead to communal challenges and would move Rabbi Levin’s community work in an unpredictable direction. Bracha’s experiences would lead to serious questioning that would shape her career path. As both father and daughter embark upon a journey of remembrance, face the challenges of the present, and envision a brighter future for humanity, they discover the real secret of redemption.