Today is Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, in the State of Israel:
Yom HaShoah was inaugurated in 1959, anchored in a law signed by the Prime Minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion and the President of Israel Yitzhak Ben-Zvi.
The original proposal was to hold Yom Hashoah on the 14th of Nisan, the anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising (April 19, 1943), but this was problematic because the 14th of Nisan is the day immediately before Pesach (Passover). The date was moved to the 27th of Nisan, which is eight days before Yom Ha’atzma’ut, or Israeli Independence Day.
While there are Orthodox Jews who commemorate the Holocaust on Yom Hashoah, others in the Orthodox community – especially Haredim, including Hasidim – remember the victims of the Holocaust on days of mourning declared by the rabbis before the Holocaust, such as Tisha b’Av in the summer, and the Tenth of Tevet, in the winter. It is interesting to note that Ismar Schorsch, former Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary (of the Conservative movement) held that Holocaust commemoration should take place on Tisha b’Av.
Most Jewish communities hold a solemn ceremony on this day, but there is no institutionalized ritual. Lighting memorial candles and reciting the Kaddish – the prayer for the departed – are common. The Masorti (Conservative Judaism) movement in Israel has created Megillat HaShoah, a scroll and liturgical reading for Yom HaShoah, a joint project of Jewish leaders in Israel, the United States and Canada. In 1984, Conservative Rabbi David Golinkin wrote an article in Conservative Judaism journal suggesting a program of observance for the holiday, including fasting.
There really isn’t anything else that can be said today other than “Never Forget.”
May 2nd, 2008 at 11:20 am
[...] fun today, folks. Considering what today has been set aside to remember, we’re gonna be [...]