Yom HaShoah/Holocaust Memorial
Day in Israel
When Is Yom HaShoah/Holocaust Memorial Day
2019? May 2, 2019
Yom HaShoah (Yom HaShoa, Yom
HaZikaron laShoah ve-laGvura) officially translates to "Remembrance Day
for the Holocaust and Heroism", but is often known as "Holocaust
Remembrance Day" in English. It is an occasion to commemorate the lives
and heroism of the six million Jewish people who died in the Holocaust between
1933 and 1945. Yom HaShoah is on the 27th day of Nisan, the first month of the
ecclesiastical year in the Jewish calendar.
Is Yom HaShoah/Holocaust Memorial
Day a Public Holiday?
Yom HaShoah/Holocaust Memorial
Day is not a public holiday. Businesses have normal opening hours. Yom HaShoah
commemorates the lives and heroism of Jewish victims of the Holocaust during
World War II.
Establishment of the Holiday
The full name of the day commemorating
the victims of the Holocaust is “Yom HaShoah Ve-Hagevurah”— in Hebrew literally
translated as the "Day of (remembrance of) the Holocaust and the
Heroism." It is marked on the 27th day in the month of Nisan — a week
after the end of the Passover holiday and a week before Yom Hazikaron (Memorial
Day for Israel's fallen soldiers). It marks the anniversary of the Warsaw
Ghetto uprising. The date was selected in a
resolution passed by Israel's Parliament, the Knesset, on April 12, 1951.
Although the date was established by the Israeli government, it has become a
day commemorated by Jewish communities and individuals worldwide. The day's
official name - Holocaust and Heorism Remembrance Day - was made formal in a
law enacted by the Knesset on August 19, 1953; on March 4, 1959, the Knesset
passed another law which determined that
tribute to victims of the Holocaust and ghetto uprisings be paid in public
observances.
Yom HaShoah in Israel
In the early 1950s, Israeli
education about the Holocaust (Hebrew: Ha-Shoah, The Catastrophe) emphasized
the suffering inflicted on millions of European Jews by the Nazis. Surveys
conducted in the late 1950s indicated that young Israelis did not sympathize
with the victims of the Holocaust, since they believed that European Jews were
"led like sheep for slaughter." The Israeli educational curriculum
began to shift the emphasis to documenting how Jews resisted their Nazi
tormentors through "passive resistance" — retaining their human
dignity in the most unbearable conditions — and by "active
resistance," fighting the Nazis in the ghettos and joining underground
partisans who fought the Third Reich in its occupied countries. Since the early 1960's, the sound
of a siren on Yom Hashoah stops traffic and pedestrians throughout the State of
Israel for two minutes of silent devotion. The siren blows at sundown and once
again at 11:00 A.M. on this date. All radio and television programs during this
day are connected in one way or another with the Jewish destiny in World War II,
including personal interviews with survivors. Even the musical programs are
adapted to the atmosphere of Yom HaShoah. There is no public entertainment on
Yom HaShoah, as theaters, cinemas, pubs, and other public venues are closed
throughout Israel. Many ultra-Orthodox rabbis do not
endorse this memorial day, though most of them have not formally rejected it
either. There is no change in the daily religious services in some Orthodox
synagogues on Yom HaShoah though the Orthodox Rabbinate of Israel attempted to
promote the Tenth of Tevet — a traditional fast day commemorating the beginning
of the siege of Jerusalem in ancient times — as the "General Kaddish
Day" in which Jews should recite the memorial prayer and light candles in
memory of those who perished in the Holocaust. Several ultra-Orthodox rabbis
have recommended adding piyyutim (religious poems) that were written by
contemporary rabbis to the liturgy of the Ninth of Av, and many communities
follow this custom. Ismar Schorsch, the chancellor of the Conservative
movement's Jewish Theological Seminary, has also suggested moving Holocaust
commemorations to Tisha b'Av, because that is the day in which Judaism
ritualizes its most horrible destructions.
Yom HaShoah in the United States
Jews in North America observe Yom
HaShoah within the synagogue as well as in the broader Jewish community.
Commemorations range from synagogue services to communal vigils and educational
programs. A few congregations find it more practical to hold commemorative
ceremonies on the closest Sunday to Yom HaShoah while others celebrate the day
on April 19, the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. Many Yom HaShoah
programs feature a talk by a Holocaust survivor, recitation of appropriate
songs and readings, or viewing of a Holocaust-themed film. Some communities
choose to emphasize the depth of loss that Jews experienced in the Holocaust by
reading the names of Holocaust victims one after another — dramatizing the
unfathomable notion of six million deaths. Many Jewish schools also hold
Holocaust-related educational programs on or near Yom HaShoah. In 1979, the
President's Commission on the Holocaust, established by President Jimmy Carter,
commemorated Holocaust Remembrance Day in the US Capitol with an unprecedented
ceremony attended by the President, the Vice President, and many members of
Congress. Since 1979, civic ceremonies have been held in Washington, DC and in
individual states and cities.
Rituals & Liturgy
Rituals associated with Yom
HaShoah are still being created and vary widely among synagogues. Attempts have
also been made to observe this memorial day at home. One suggestion is that
every Jewish home should light a yahrzeit (memorial) candle on this day. There
have been numerous attempts to compose special liturgy (text and music) for Yom
HaShoah. In 1988 the Reform movement published Six Days of Destruction. This
book, co-authored by Elie Wiesel and Rabbi Albert Friedlander, was meant to be
viewed as a "sixth scroll," a modern addition to the five scrolls that
are read on specific holidays. Six narratives from Holocaust survivors are
juxtaposed to the six days of creation found in Genesis. In 1984, Rabbi David
Golinkin of the Masorti (Conservative) movement in Israel wrote an article in
which he suggested a program of observance for Yom HaShoah, which included
fasting. One of the most recent achievements is Megillat Hashoah (The Holocaust
Scroll) created by the Conservative movement as a joint project of rabbis and
lay-leaders in Canada, the U.S., and Israel. This Holocaust scroll contains
personal recollections of Holocaust survivors and is written in biblical style.
It was composed under the direction of Professor Avigdor Shinan of Hebrew
University and published by the International Rabbinical Assembly, the
international body of Conservative rabbis, and the Masorti (Conservative)
movement's Schecter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. Rabbi Avraham (Avi) Weiss, a
modern Orthodox rabbi in New York, wrote a special Haggadah for the Yom HaShoah
seder, to create a seder (much like on Passover and Tu b'Shevat) in which the
story of the Holocaust is retold. While Yom HaShoah rituals are
still in flux there is no question that this day holds great meaning for Jews
worldwide. The overwhelming theme that runs through all observances is the
importance of remembering — recalling the victims of this catastrophe, and
insuring that such a tragedy never happen again. The Shoah (Holocaust) posed an
enormous challenge to Judaism and raised many questions: Can one be a believing
Jew after the Holocaust? Where was God? How can one have faith in humanity?
Facing this recent event in history, does it really matter if one practices
Judaism? Jewish theologians and laity have struggled with these questions for
decades. The very fact that Jews still identify Jewishly, practice their
religion — and have embraced the observance of Yom HaShoah answers some of the
questions raised by the Holocaust.
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