Yom Ha'Shoah and Our Collective Memory

A month ago we celebrated Purim. Now Passover is coming to an end, and next week we're commemorating Yom Ha'Shoah?!

It's a breathless pace, but there's a reasoned explanation behind this "madness." It's called collective memory.

We Jews are more than a proud people. We are one of the few ancient civilizations still around, which is a major miracle considering that hate seems to haunt Jewish history. Oddly enough, it has strengthened us as a people and helped shape our identity by never forgetting each and every hate-filled event.

In fact, we are the pros at seamlessly fusing history, memory and peoplehood. Let's go back to the two "P"s -- Purim and Passover. They're prime examples of this synthesis. Holding a Holocaust memorial day a week after Passover ends seems a natural progression in our march over time.

I'm wondering if your students know that we have one of the longest memories around?  The recent shooting in Kansas City is an unfortunate stop on the road, but it won't be forgotten. The same way members of our immediate and extended families brutally killed by the Nazis won't be erased from our minds. Help your students remember their relatives by encouraging them to submit names to Yad Va'Shem, to be read out loud at this year's ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance . Want a follow-up? Encourage them to write up the story behind the name and submit it to Yad Va'Shem's Pages of Testimony project.

May the memories of their relatives be an added blessing to our collective memory.
























Photo credit

Connecting Ilan Ramon with Yom Hashoa

I'm beginning to wonder -- is the social media age distancing kids from the past? It seems that today's life is only about the here and now. During my recent trip to Houston I found out that my 22 year-old Texas cousin had no idea who were Wyatt Earp or Wild Bill Hickok. I was astounded, but he had a good answer: "Our generation is part of the space frontier." 

I shrugged my shoulders, thinking it's all part of a changing America. However, at a family seder in Long Island I met a young married woman -- a college graduate -- who never heard of Ilan Ramon and gave me a quizzical look when I mentioned the Columbia space shuttle.

She may be an isolated case; nonetheless....We are a people that believes in collective memory. It's part of our Jewish identity and should remain firmly in place. Purim teaches us to remember Amalek. Unfortunately, we've had numerous variations on that theme. Yom Hashoah is part of the pantheon. 

How does this tie in with Ilan Ramon? This year marked the 10th anniversary of the space shuttle Columbia's crash. PBS recently aired a documentary entitled "Mission of Hope". Lo and behold they brought up the remarkable story of the tiny Torah scroll which Ilan Ramon brought with him into outer space. The story of the Bar Mitzvah in the Bergen Belsen concentration camp using this Torah scroll is the tale that I researched and retold in my award-winning book "Keeping the Promise. It is the right story for this year's Yom Hashoa commemoration. It is a homage to the Jewish spirit and pays tribute to Ilan Ramon -- a hero in Israel long before his space adventure, the son of Holocaust survivors and a proud Jew who took additional Jewish and Holocaust memorabilia on board the shuttle. "Keeping the Promise" has also been translated into Hebrew and both are available through Kar-Ben. Reading the two side-by-side will enhance your Hebrew lessons, and your students' reading and speaking skills.

Wishing you a meaningful Yom Hashoah.

Origins & Customs of Yom Hashoah

It's always fascinating to find out why specific dates are chosen for memorial holidays. Yom Ha'shoah is a good example. Is there an obvious date for remembering this horrific carnage which lasted so many years? While some voted for Tisha B'Av when many other catastrophes occurred in Jewish history, the original plan was to hold Yom Ha'shoah on the 14th of Nisan -- the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (April 19, 1943), which this memorial in Warsaw symbolizes.

Sounds perfectly logical, but it didn't work. Who could stop, mourn and remember when the country was in full swing with Passover preparations? Let's not forget that the 15th of Nisan is the first day of Passover. To paraphrase a famous American quote: "Jerusalem, we have a problem." And boy, was it a problem! First Passover, then a mere 12 days after the last day of Passover, Israel Memorial Day. What to do? Obviously sandwich it in during this season of remembering. And so, in 1953 Israel's Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and its President Yitzhak ben-Zvi passed a law stating that Yom Ha'shoah is to be celebrated on the 27th of Nisan.

Today, the official ceremony marking the day is held at sundown, at Yad Vashem's Warsaw Ghetto Plaza. The national flag is lowered to half mast and Holocaust survivors light six torches symbolizing the six million who perished.  Promptly at 10 a.m. the next morning a siren is sounded, and the entire country comes to a standstill (more on sirens next week).  All public entertainment places are closed. Ceremonies are held in schools, military bases and public institutions. Entertainment shows on TV and radio are put on "hold"as well, substituted by documentaries on the Holocaust and low-key songs.

"B-O-R-I-N-G?" Not at all. "M-E-A-N-I-N-G-F-U-L!" Especially in this day and age of existential threats to Israel's existence. Yom Ha'shoah is more than a time to remember. It's a day to reflect.


Warsaw Ghetto Memorial Photo Credit