Members of the St. Louis community came together to remember the service of local veterans with a solemn Memorial Day ceremony on May 25.

“American Jews have served in the defense of our lands since the beginnings of Jewish life in America in 1654, when Asher Levy won the right to stand guard in New Amsterdam,” said Monroe Ginsburg, Commander of the Jewish War Veterans Saint Louis Heritage Post 644, during introductory remarks.

“We have always supported our country and have served in every conflict through today’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is our purpose today to remember the service and personal sacrifice of the Jewish men and women of St. Louis who have heeded our nation’s call for her defense,” he said.

The audience listened as members of the JWV Memorial Post 346 and Post 644 read the names of fallen comrades from past wars, and the names of local veterans who have passed away since April, 2007.

“Memorial Day is about memory, not about history. Memory is not the same as history,” said Rabbi Moshe Shulman of Young Israel, who gave the invocation and the main address at the service. “It’s interesting to note that in the Bible there is no word for ‘history,’ only ‘memory.'”

“History is objective, disconnected, dispassionate, whereas memory is subjective, personal and passionate and carries with it an imperative and moral responsibility — it is that responsibility we acknowledge today,” Rabbi Shulman said.

“The Prophet Isaiah spoke of a vision — when mankind would so embrace the principle of the unity of humankind and the values of liberty and freedom that they would beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war.”

“Today the struggle for liberty and freedom rages on. The demands upon us for vigilance and even sacrifice are no less than they were any time in the Twentieth Century and we are no closer to Isaiah’s dream of ‘nation shall not lift up sword against nation,'” Rabbi Shulman said.

“Enemies of freedom and liberty have changed their tactics. They no longer attack with tanks and planes, but with explosive belts and ammunition. They have forced us to turn our swords into ‘smart bombs’ and our spears into ‘bunker busters,’ rather than plowshares and pruning hooks,” he said.

“But we continue to battle toward freedom and liberty for humankind. And this is humanity’s battle that we share.”

After a recitation of the Soldier’s Prayer, the audience stood for God Bless America, sung by Dr. Ethan Schuman, who serves as hazzan for Nusach Hari B’nai Zion.

The audience at the Jewish Federation Kopolow Building filed outside to watch as the veterans lowered the American flag to half-mast, while Rabbi Mark Fasman blew Taps on a shofar.

The service was the culmination of a full morning for the local Jewish War Veterans, whose day started at 6 a.m., when they arrived to cook breakfast for 300 Boy Scouts and group leaders.

The scouts helped the veterans decorate almost 5,000 Jewish veterans’ graves in the area.

During the service, Judy Taxman spoke about the ongoing donation her family is making to honor her husband’s father, Phil Taxman.

“When Phil passed away, the veterans, the Jewish War Veterans, were there for him, standing with him in life, but also there for him in death,” she said.

The family chose to donate $10,000 to the Jewish War Veterans, $1,000 a year, which helps pay for the flags that are placed at veterans’ graves.

This is the fourth year that the family has given the Jewish War Veterans $1,000 for the flags.

Taxman ended her remarks with a few words for the veterans in the audience.

“You are, without a doubt, our heros, and you need to know that,” she said.