Yom Hashoa
I was debating whether or not to continue blogging, and even if I did, part of me wanted to leave my previous post up on top a little longer. Thinking about today and its connection to my previous post, made me think that perhaps I should post.
Today is Yom Hashoa. In Israel, the observance is strong. Everyone there knows about the day and commemorates it. It doesn't matter whether you are frum or not, Yom Hashoa is still Yom Hashoa.
Here in America it's a whole different story. For some strange reason, most of frum America does not commemorate Yom Hashoa. They are of the opinion that we have Tisha B'Av and that's enough. The other argument that I have heard is that Yom Hashoa should not have been set during Nissan which is a happy month.
I am not normally one to rock the boat, but I have to disagree with this mentality. We lost SIX million jews in a fairly short period of time. That's three to ten times the amount of people that left mitzrayim. It wasn't just the non-frum that were "punished" and killed. How many tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of frum jews were killed, not to mention rabbanim and gedolei hador.
The youngest survivors are now in the mid to late sixties. May they all be zoche to live "ad meah vesrim", but the odds are, that we don't have them around THAT much longer. Who will be around to refute the cynics that to this day claim that it never happened? Why shouldn't there be a day to commemorate the loss of our culture?
My argument to the arguments posed above is very simple, sefira. It was set-up post Anshei Knesses Hagedola, in addition to Tisha B'Av and it eats up more than a few days of Nissan. So where's the logic?? Hashem Yinkom Damam.
posted by A Frum Idealist | 4/25/2006 12:17:00 PM
4 Comments:
I completely agree with you. I find it disturbing that so many assume we can only have one day to mourn. Why? What is this based on? I have never understood and find this practice nonsensical and cruel.
I guess it is not "celebrated" here because it is an Israeli national holiday. You know, its crazy but I went to a really frum bais yaakov type seminary in Israel that threatened anyone who stands up and is silent during the moment of silence (when the siren goes) will be dealt with harshly. So... I didnt bother showing up to class. I don't know why some are so anti... but I agree with you, AFI....
By shabbos Zachor the Rabbi of the shul I attended made a speech about how zachor refers to remembering all the times we have been persecuted... and he went into how people are forgetting the six million. What happened to "never again"?
Such is human nature... we get comfortable and we forget the lessons we should learn... as it is written... Vayishman Yeshurun Vayivat". If we forget, we get punished again and the cycle continues.
We shouldnt forget the six million, and we should never, ever forget the lessons of Golus.
I totally agree with you in regards to how sad it is that the last survivors are going..going...
I'm someone who is obsessed with the Holocaust...I've read every book..been to every death camp..etc...
However I don't see any relevency in Yom Hashoa. I think in 50-60 years from now..it won't have much meaning unfortunately even in Israel (although in israel it's scheduled to come out just before Yom Ha'Atzmaut as sort of a subliminal justification for the State)
Did you know that there's a day that the Council of the Four Lands set aside in the 1600s to commemerate Tach V'Tat when 100,000 Jews were brutally slaughtered in a period of 2 years (before the gas chambers..everyone had to be individually hacked to death)? How many people do you know that say selichos on the 20th of Sivan?
So..if there's an emotional feeling toward the day..then it will continue..but in 60-70 years from now..I see it being a hollow day...that exists on the calendar.
What is shocking about the holocaust itself is that they Nazi's to a certain degree managed to break down everything. They broke down people's bodies in the camps, with physical labor, their souls, when people wondered where god was, and the aftermath from the trauma and guilt.
It is a known fact that MANY holocaust survivors had tremendous psychological issues as a result. Their children as well had to live with unbalanced behavior. It's been generations of people thaat the Nazi's hurt/ killed. It didn't stop with the end of the war. That's the scary part.
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