Irene Reti and Lori
Klein
Oral History as
Spiritual Witnessing
[German]
Irene Reti: I am the
daughter of Holocaust refugees from Germany and Hungary who tried to protect me
from their trauma by not telling me they were Jewish. The recovery of my
family's story from silence has been my life's path. Interviewing my family has
helped me piece together the shattered fragments of our history in my memoir The
Keeper of Memory. Oral history was the gate I stepped through to begin that
spiritual and creative journey. It is also the center of my professional work at
the University of California, Santa Cruz. Teaching "Oral History as Spiritual
Witnessing" at Bet Debora was a powerful context to blend this spiritual,
creative and professional work.
What is oral history? It
is spoken memory with historical significance, which illuminates the ways in
which we are both shaped by history and shapers of history. It is as new as the
tape recorder and video camera, and as ancient as stories whispered around a
fire. It reclaims history from the realm of kings and presidents, from a dry
collection of dates and battles, and returns it to"ordinary" people-to women,
Jews, lesbians and gay men, working class people, people of color.
On a rainy afternoon in
Berlin twelve Jewish women stepped through the gate of oral history and became
each other's witnesses. What exactly was said in that room shall remain a secret,
for trust is part of what wove the magic between us. Twelve women paired off and
responded to the sacred call, Shema, listen. Guided by questions the workshop
leaders had provided, we listened not just with our ears, but with our bellies,
hearts, souls, served as midwives to each other's life stories. We listened
silently, learned to resist even the nonverbal responses women are conditioned
to give. For oral history is not a conversation, but more of a directed
monologue, and we learned that our listening was even more important than our
questions. We allowed this gift of silence to gently guide our partners deeper
into the stories of our Jewish families. How were our families different than
other families? What are our most significant memories of growing up? Who was
marginalized in our families? How did the Shoah affect us? What is the history
of gender roles in our families? Finally, how do we define family? Do we define
it as biological, or do we think of community members as family?
After an hour we shared
some of what we had learned. It was intimate in a way some of us had never
experienced. Before the workshop ended there would be tears. Women who had never
met before, who were separated by country of origin, language, age, even by
continents, were startled to discover how much history we have in common.
Lori Klein: I am second to
third generation American Jew, whose parents and grandparents proudly claimed
their cultural identity as Jews, but turned their backs on most religious and
spiritual expression. For the past ten years I have been deeply involved in
designing creative ritual. For me, every occasion, including an oral history
workshop, can be deepened spiritually.
The sacred container of
our workshop was held by the Shema at the beginning and by the holy fire of all
the letters of Torah at the end. In the Torah scroll, the letter ayin at the end
of the word Shema (listen), and the letter dalet at the end of the word echad (one)
are enlarged. Together they form the word "ayd", or witness. In this way, we
learn that listening, witnessing, is for us a sacred duty. After we had spent
more than an hour telling each other our stories, the air was rich with the
white fire that embraces the black fire of the letters on a Torah scroll. We sat
together in silence, visualizing that interplay of black fire and white fire,
just as our individual stories are woven into the fabric of Jewish history and
Jewish present.
|
