I have a love of reading that was passed down to me from my parents. I can still remember going to the local public library with my momma and I can’t even begin to tell you how proud I was when I got my very own library card. I still love to go to the library and check out the latest books that have come in. I always carry my card with me … as Sergeant Friday would say, “I never leave home without it.”

There is one problem though … okay, actually, two problems. The first is that my vision is not so wonderful, especially if the print is small, and the other is that I have always had a learning disability, although I have learned to compensate well and it has not stopped my love of reading.

On the other hand, because of the learning disability, it is hard for me to line up numbers in a column, and, sometimes I invert numbers, and, sometimes when I read, I do the same with letters.

So when I looked on the schedule to see when I was due to write this column, I looked at the date, 11/7 and I read it as 7/11. That’s right, I read it backwards. Oddly enough, that led me right into today’s column, as I am writing to you about a time, a particular day … actually, a night when nothing was as it should be, a night when everything was turned, not just backwards, but upside down.

While it might seem like ancient history, the night I am talking about happened just 75 short years ago and has come to be known as Kristallnacht, The Night of Broken Glass.

On Nov. 9, 1938, the Nazi hoards carried out a (you should pardon the expression) mass of pogroms, aiming their vicious hate at the Jews of Germany. And if you think the Zombie films that are all the rage are frightening, try to picture the horror that occurred in the span of just a few hours time as thousands of Synagogues and Jewish businesses and homes were damaged or destroyed and more than 30,000 Jews were sent to Concentration camps. This anti-Semitic horror became known as the Night of Broken Glass (Kristallnacht) because the glass from the smashed windows of Jewishowned structures literally covered the streets.

What a horror, and where, one must ask, were those who were supposed to protect the citizens of Germany (regardless of their religious convictions)?

Sadly, either they were helping kick, torture and torch anyone and everything Jewish, or, they simply looked the other way … or, they were nowhere to be seen.

Of course, most of you know what ensued after that. You know of the 6 million and you know that, to this day, there are those who try to deny that much, if any, of this actually happened.

This was a world turned so upside down that the military, who were organized to defend, became the very ones who put so many innocents to death.

Thank G-d, in the same week we remember Kristallnacht, we have a day where we honor those who have served in the uniforms of the various branches of the United States military with Veteran’s Day.

Don’t let their age fool you, they know what it is to put their lives on the line to serve and protect and keep the glass from breaking. They stand at attention and help keep us all standing straight and tall … G-d Bless them one and all!

Shalom my friends,

Rabbi Craig H. Ezring

Rabbi Ezring is the spiritual leader of Temple Beth Israel of Deerfield Beach. We welcome you to join our warm and caring family for Shabbat and festival services. We’ll make your heart glow…who knows, you might even fall in love with Shul all over again