זָכְרֵֽנוּ לְחַיִּים מלך חפץ בחיים וכתבנו בספר החיים למענך אל-הים חיים.
(17) Remember us for life Sovereign who desires life, and write us in the Book of Life for Your sake, Living God.(Because these are days of judgment and our lives hang in the balance, we pray to Hashem to remember us for life (Rashi, Levush).)
On the High Holidays, we ask God to remember us, to 'keep us in mind' as we confront ourselves, our personal history, and as we take responsibility for what we've done (and haven't done), for who we were and the effort to shape ourselves into the person we hope to be.
The Confederacy (as well as slavery, and now add Christopher Columbus to the debate) was part of American history even though it was a secessionist movement that organized and fought a war against the 'Union', the properly established government of the United States.
www.history.com
During the American Civil War, the Confederate States of America consisted of the governments of 11 Southern states that seceded from the Union in 1860-61, carrying on all the affairs of a separate government and conducting a major war until defeated in the spring of 1865. Convinced that their way of life, based on slavery, was irretrievably threatened by the election of President Abraham Lincoln (November 1860), the seven states of the Deep South (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas) seceded from the Union during the following months. When the war began with the firing on Fort Sumter (April 12, 1861), they were joined by four states of the upper South (Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia).
(Quoted from the Reader's Companion to American History, 1991, Ed. by Eric Foner & John A. Garraty)
"The memorialization happened long after the war, and it was done in a kind of way to evoke a romantic image of what the Confederacy had been." - Professor Eric Goldstein
"White Southerners had told themselves a story in which slavery did not play a leading role," Edward Ayers, a historian and former president of the University of Richmond in Virginia, told PBS' Newshour. "The story was that men like Robert E. Lee had risen up to fight against a tyrannical federal government that was trying to take away the rights of the states." (Quoted in CNN.com article (http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/15/us/confederacy-explainer-trnd/index.html)
Monuments vs. Memorials?
Quoting from NY Times Op-Ed by Gary Shapiro (May 15, 2017)
...The debate around these monuments — Should they be destroyed, maintained or removed elsewhere? — has been heated and, I believe, misguided. We should be asking other questions instead: Are these statues really “monuments” by our present standards? Or are they rather “memorials”?
...Why do we name some monuments (like the Washington Monument) and others memorials? Arthur Danto’s answer is a model of clarity: “We erect monuments so that we shall always remember, and build memorials so that we shall never forget.” Monuments, Danto wrote, “commemorate the memorable and embody the myths of beginnings. Memorials ritualize remembrance and mark the reality of ends.”
...Monuments celebrate origins. They demonstrate a community’s symbolic honoring of events and people for qualities it finds indispensable to its identity. George Washington, whatever his flaws, is honored as father of this country. Memorials, like the wall of veterans’ names in Washington are meant to ensure that certain events and people will never be forgotten, even though, in many cases, we are ambivalent about some aspects of the events.
...The contested works, originally built in a monumental spirit, are now defended as memorials.
...Not all current Richmonders are or feel affiliated to what the traditionalists see as their heritage. On the other hand, the statues are undeniable signs of Richmond’s history — of what has been done and suffered here. Mere erasure would be a form of historical denial.
...Destroying or removing the structures eliminates opportunities for productively using our past. Critical contextualization is the better alternative. This would be a complex process, drawing on the skills and judgment of historians, artists, urban planners and a good cross-section of local residents. Much could be added: plaques concerning the war itself, disputes over slavery, Richmond’s and Virginia’s roles in the Confederacy, Reconstruction (and its abrupt termination following the 1876 election deal), African-American disenfranchisement, the blatant racism surrounding the statues’ planning and dedication.
(Professor Shapiro teaches philosophy at the University of Richmond)
אבינו מלכנו חננו ועננו כי אין בנו מעשים, עשה עמנו צדקה וחסד והושיענו.
Our Parent, Our Sovereign, have compassion on us since we have no (good) deeds (with which to advocate for ourselves), act toward us with justice, loving-kindness, and redeem us.
Are we confessing here? Or is this a 'nice' way (creative spin) of saying 'We've done so much wrong'? Clearly, we need God's help, outside assistance. We're asking for justice balanced with compassion.
But Jewish tradition also clarifies that there are sins for which no forgiveness can be granted - including, leading people astray to worship other gods.
Can we compare the Confederate States' secession and maintenance of slave-based economy to leading the masses astray? Southerners claimed they were for 'states' rights' and they were living under tyrannical 'northern' rule.
(15) You must not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for they will lust after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and invite you, and you will eat of their sacrifices.
God instructs the Israelites to remove any religious symbols of the native peoples in Canaan, lest we be tempted to worship them and participate in the rituals regarding these native religions.
What function do the Confederate statues play? Do they cause US citizens to contemplate secession again? How could they 'lead us astray'?
African American communities view these statues as reminders of a racist, slave-holding regime.
For Jews, we recall Judah Benjamin as Confederate President Jefferson Davis' right hand man (Attorney General, Secretary of War, Secretary of State) - but no statue of him exists! -- 'Historians agree that he was unduly made a scapegoat for the South's misfortunes in the war.' (Ari Feldman "Why Are There No Statues of Judah Benjamin To Tear Down? pp. 11-13, Forward (Magazine), October, 2017)
**'A popular opinion at the time was that Jews should not create "graven images" of famous Jews. since it would defy the third of the Ten Commandments." (Feldman, p. 13)
**Clearly, we have images, statues, and more, in honor of Americans (e.g. George Washington) who was also a slaveholder, of others who committed atrocities against native Americans, for example (Andrew Jackson & the Cherokee 'Trail of Tears'/1838, Indian Removal Act of 1830) -- There have been no moves as yet to question the legitimacy of these statues and images? Should there be?
According to the Torah, while the Israelites were supposed to tear down native religious images, altars, and the like, our ancestors continued to keep native religious items & even to worship other gods.
Roger Cohen - NY Times Op-Ed 9/6/17
"Nothing when it comes to memory, is simple. Memory is emotion. There is a danger in the rush to remove these statues..."
"The statues now being upended tell a story, after all. Not the story they were erected to propagate - of Confederate valor - but of an attempt in defeat to make the terrible "great truth" of the Confederacy and by so doing extend for many decades the subjugation and humiliation of American blacks. The statues are part of American history; consigning them to oblivion does not help. They should be gathered in museums, or a museum, where their lesson can be taught and debated."