On October 7, we remember.
We remember the Jewish lives taken and the families forever changed. We remember the people torn from their homes and held hostage, and those who never came home. We remember a nation transformed by grief, fear, and war. We remember innocents whose lives have been profoundly affected by the devastation and loss that followed. And we remember Jewish communities around the world who, once again, have faced the painful resurgence of antisemitism.
But remembrance is not simply looking backward.
We wonder why the world so quickly forgets. Why hatred survives from one generation to the next. Why antisemitism continues to find new voices and new forms. Why, despite all we have learned from history, we so often allow its darkest chapters to repeat.
And then we ask a harder question:
What will we do with what we remember?
At the Jewish Museum of Florida, we believe that memory carries a responsibility. We preserve history not simply to honor those who came before us, but to illuminate the present and help shape a different future.
We ask questions. We listen to stories. We confront difficult truths. We seek understanding where there is division. And we strive to bring light where hatred would grow.
Because history is not only something we inherit.
It is something we have the power to shape.
May we remember. May we never become indifferent. May our memory deepen our humanity. And may it move us - not toward hatred or despair, but toward understanding, courage, and hope.
May memory move us forward.
Sincerely,
Howard Lipman
Chief Executive Officer
Jewish Museum of Florida