Isaiah 43:1

In 1939, Japanese diplomat Sugihara, who was stationed in Lithuania during one of the darkest times in human history, saved thousands of Polish Jews from the Nazis by issuing transit visas to them. Defying his own government, he wrote visas day and night, even scribbling them by hand and passing them through a train window as he departed Lithuania.

His bold and extraordinary act of heroism was largely unknown and unsung in the immediate aftermath of the war. For many years he occupied an obscure footnote in history – until survivors who had been rescued by Sugihara began to emerge from the silence of their post-Holocaust shock and started telling his story. Soon, his courage and greatness were being celebrated all over the world, catching the attention of the mass media and inspiring several authors to write books describing the actions of the “Japanese Schindler.”

Meanwhile, the Israeli government was gathering names of “courageous rescuers,” whose efforts it wished to repay. One of the ways the Jewish state attempted to acknowledge its debt was by giving rescuers and their families’ sanctuary and lifelong pensions. Another, more symbolic way, was by planting trees in their honor. When Sugihara’s valor came to light, Israeli officials immediately made plans to plant a cherry grove, as was customary, in his memory. But suddenly, in an uncommon move, officials rescinded the order. They decided that, in keeping with the breath-taking scope of Sugihara’s actions, cherry trees were an inappropriate symbol. They opted instead for a grove of cedar trees, deciding that cedar was sturdier and had holier connotations, having been used in the First Temple.

It was only after they had planted the trees that the astonished officials learned for the first time that “Sugihara” in Japanese means…. cedar grove.

Comment:
Does a name mean much to you? It does to God! As the Prophet Isaiah says: “I have called you by name: you are mine.” According to the catechism of the Catholic Church: “God calls each one by name. Everyone’s name is sacred. The name is the icon of the person. It demands respect as a sign of the dignity of the person who bears it” (2158). Was it a coincidence that the name “Sugihara” meant cedar grove and was it a mere coincidence that the Israeli officials changed their plans to plant a cherry grove and instead planted a cedar grove?

Fr. Hugh Duffy