NEW BEDFORD, Mass.
— Cantor Nathaniel Schudrich carried the Torah down the center aisle of the sanctuary on Saturday, and the people stepped from the pews to touch it gently, like an old friend.
They said “A Prayer for Our Country,” the members of Tifereth Israel synagogue, and then Charles Gorfinkle, president of the congregation, stood up.
Sometimes Dr. Daniel Nussbaum reads the names, but Saturday, it was Charlie Gorfinkle’s turn. He put the list of names on a lectern and began to read.
“Marine Cpl. Kristopher D. Greer, 25, of Ashland City, Tenn.,” Gorfinkle read.
Rabbi Raphael Kanter got the idea a few years ago while attending a service at the Lincoln Square Synagogue in New York City.
“In the middle of the service, someone in the congregation stood up and just started reading the names of the servicemen and women who died most recently in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Rabbi Kanter was saying.
“Army Private First Class Bradley D. Rappuhn, 24, of Grand Ledge, Mich.,” Gorfinkle said.
Rabbi Kanter sat in the synagogue in New York and was profoundly moved, listening to the names, the ages, the hometowns of young Americans who died so far away, in forgotten wars — wars forgotten even as they still rage.
“Army Sgt. Andrew C. Nicol, 23, of Kensington, New Hampshire,” Gorfinkle said.
“It was simple, it was dignified, and I thought it was so necessary,” Rabbi Kanter said.
Rabbi Kanter came back to Tifereth Israel in New Bedford and got up at the Shabbat service and explained what he wanted to do.
“Marine Private First Class Vincent E. Gammone III, 19, of Christiana, Tenn.,” Gorfinkle read.
So the rabbi began reading the names of the war dead.
“Marine Lance Cpl. Kevin M. Cornelius, 20, of Ashtabula, Ohio,” Gorfinkle read.
Many in the congregation opposed the wars. But no one opposed honoring and remembering the young people sent to fight them. After a while, the rabbi asked members of the congregation to take turns reading the names of those most recently killed. They do it every week.
“Marine Cpl. Max W. Donahue, 23, of Highlands Ranch, Colo.,” Gorfinkle read.
Even at bar mitzvahs
Somebody asked whether it was appropriate to read the names at bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah services, when the young people of the congregation celebrate their coming of age in their faith. Those are joyous occasions.
“Rabbi Kanter said it was important that we read the names, even at bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs,” Cantor Schudrich said. “Our young people need to hear these names and honor the people whose names are read. So often, I’m struck by the ages of our military people who die in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are so young.”
“Army Sgt. Faith R. Hinkley, 23, of Colorado Springs, Colo.,” Gorfinkle read.
Rabbi Kanter said his congregation’s simple act of remembrance is born of a conviction that the wars are too invisible. Most Americans don’t have a loved one serving. Most Americans go through every day not giving the wars a passing thought.
“A small segment of our country is bearing the burden of these wars,” Rabbi Kanter said. “Why is it when our veterans come home, their care is so poor? If the children of the rich and powerful were fighting these wars, it wouldn’t be the case. In fact, we wouldn’t be fighting these wars. I think the draft should come back. It’s unconscionable that we’re not sharing the burden of war equally. I wonder how quickly we would go to war, and whether we would prosecute wars the same way, if we had a draft, if the burden was shared.”
So, in this, the most political of seasons, when politicians talk about everything but the wars that are bankrupting the nation and robbing us of so many fine young men and women, a congregation at a synagogue in Massachusetts reminds itself every week what honor and sacrifice really mean.
Listen and remember
They pause, they listen, they remember.
“Army Master Sgt. Jared N. Van Aalst, 34, of Laconia, New Hampshire,” Gorfinkle read.
Gorfinkle finished reading but, for a moment, his eyes lingered on the small, thumbnail photos next to each of the names. The faces were young and fresh, and you could see him looking at them, not so much as if he knew them, but wishing that he had.
Gorfinkle exhaled, and then said: “Let us pray for the day when there are no longer any names to read.”
Denver Post columnist Tina Griego is on special assignment. Her column will return soon.
