This evening starts Shabbath hagadol, and all day has been the Rroma people international day celebration. Thousands, if not over a million, of Gypsies died in Nazi concentration camps together with millions of people of the Jewish faith and others. The Gypsies, or Rroma people as they call themselves, trace their ancestry to Abraham and Keturah. They are divided into various tribes or communities around the world with different languages or dialects of the rromani language. In Israel/Palestine there are the domari people who speak mainly Arabic and Hebrew. Spain is the home of one of the most well known Gypsy communities called "la raza calé." They speak a language that follows Spanish (castellano) grammar called rromani caló. In the USA and Ibero America there are many other groups, especially from Eastern Europe. These communities speak Romanesh Kalderash among other dialects and languages. In Eastern Europe, as well as in Europe, especially Ukraine, Germany and Russia, they have suffered discrimination. Their suffering is parallel to that of other minorities, like the Jewish people and the Dalits. A Gypsy leader from Indiana told me years ago about the discrimination they suffered travelling through Pennsylvania, especially among the Mennonites. He says that they learned to forgive them. Many Mennonites and Amish people have also searched for ways to find reconciliation. However, organizations of social justice within them, have ignored the suffering of the Gypsies.
We, as members of the Hebrew community and the Jewish faith, must stand in solidarity today with our "half-brethren" (as they refer to themselves). May we be instruments of reconciliation.
Shabbath shalom umevorakh
רַֽחֲצוּ֙ הִזַּכּ֔וּ הָסִ֛ירוּ רֹ֥עַ מַעַלְלֵיכֶ֖ם מִנֶּ֣גֶד עֵינָ֑י חִדְל֖וּ הָרֵֽעַ׃ לִמְד֥וּ הֵיטֵ֛ב דִּרְשׁ֥וּ מִשְׁפָּ֖ט אַשְּׁר֣וּ חָמ֑וֹץ שִׁפְט֣וּ יָת֔וֹם רִ֖יבוּ אַלְמָנָֽה׃
Isaiah 1:16-17
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