Yizkor

 Yizkor means “May He remember.”

G-d will always consider us.  What we ask for is not so much that G-d remember their lives but that the memory of those we loved will not be forgotten by us.

Another name for yizkor is hazkarat neshamot, recalling souls.

We recite Yizkor because we refuse to forget.  But what we recall is a choice.  We can opt to focus on their many talents and triumphs, or their deficits and defeats.  I hope that we will choose to elevate their memory and ask that they find their way into the Olam shel Emet, the universe where forgiveness reigns and the struggles of mortality are lifted. 

 

Perhaps they will even hear our prayers and be comforted that we have neither forgotten nor neglected them.

 

In reciting Yizkor we are starkly confronted with our own brief lifespan.  As we remember them, we pray that we too will be recalled with fondness.

 

We now stand at the threshold of a New Year and fervently pray that we find the blessings in our past and emerge into 5786 to become a blessing to ourselves, others and those who come after us.

 

L’Shanah Tovah Tikateyvu