This Sunday night begins the observance of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is the commonly shortened version of the full name of the day: Yom HaZikaron laShoah ve-laG'vurah, which means Remembrance Day of the Shoah (Nazi Holocaust) and to the Resistance.
May the memory of all those who were murdered in the Nazi Holocaust be a blessing, and may peace be upon them. May the memory of all those who perished in World War II be a blessing and may peace be upon them.
At last Sunday's Kadima Passover Seder, we read these words from the 2006 Tikkun Passover supplement: “On this seder night, we remember with love, reverence, and determination the six million Jews and the many more millions [Roma], gays, lesbians, and political prisoners who were killed by the Nazis and their sympathizers in Europe.” Along with the countless others targeted for who they were not named in this 2006 passage.
Every year Yom HaShoah falls 2 weeks after seder in the week of Gevurah in the omer cycle. Its date was once a debate, and the day leading into the first seder was in contention, as this is the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. To have chosen this date would have been to make central the resistance to tyranny that Yom HaShoah must enliven in us. It was not selected because it is a day already of such preoccupation with seder preparations. And so as the date may lead us toward more sorrow than strength, let our resolve not be shaken.
Yes, let us honor the dead of the Shoah by committing to fighting against antisemitism and its harm in the name of resisting tyranny against everyone, everywhere. Even when our own people perpetrate it.
Shabbat shalom,
R’ David
May the memory of all those who were murdered in the Nazi Holocaust be a blessing, and may peace be upon them. May the memory of all those who perished in World War II be a blessing and may peace be upon them.
At last Sunday's Kadima Passover Seder, we read these words from the 2006 Tikkun Passover supplement: “On this seder night, we remember with love, reverence, and determination the six million Jews and the many more millions [Roma], gays, lesbians, and political prisoners who were killed by the Nazis and their sympathizers in Europe.” Along with the countless others targeted for who they were not named in this 2006 passage.
Every year Yom HaShoah falls 2 weeks after seder in the week of Gevurah in the omer cycle. Its date was once a debate, and the day leading into the first seder was in contention, as this is the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. To have chosen this date would have been to make central the resistance to tyranny that Yom HaShoah must enliven in us. It was not selected because it is a day already of such preoccupation with seder preparations. And so as the date may lead us toward more sorrow than strength, let our resolve not be shaken.
Yes, let us honor the dead of the Shoah by committing to fighting against antisemitism and its harm in the name of resisting tyranny against everyone, everywhere. Even when our own people perpetrate it.
Shabbat shalom,
R’ David
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