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| In Israel, observance is moved back a day if 27 Nisan falls on a Friday or forward a day if 27 Nisan falls on a Sunday (to avoid adjacency with the Jewish Sabbath). In the Diaspora, Yom HaShoah is generally observed on 27 Nisan regardless.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ushmm.org/remembrance/dor/calendar/|title=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum}}</ref> | In Israel, observance is moved back a day if 27 Nisan falls on a Friday or forward a day if 27 Nisan falls on a Sunday (to avoid adjacency with the Jewish Sabbath). In the Diaspora, Yom HaShoah is generally observed on 27 Nisan regardless.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ushmm.org/remembrance/dor/calendar/|title=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum}}</ref> | ||
| == See also == | == See also == | ||
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| * http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/848972.html Hundreds protest at Knesset over state neglect of Holocaust survivors | * | ||
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| ==References== | ==References== | ||
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<br/>{{Israeli holidays}} | ||
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Yom HaShoah (Yom HaZikaron laShoah Ve'laGvura) (יום השואה , יום הזיכרון לשואה ולגבורה), translated into English as "Holocaust Remembrance Day" - is a day set aside for remembering the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. In Israel, it is a national memorial day.
Origins
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 15th of Nisan, the anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising (April 19, 1943), but this was problematic because the 15th of Nissan is the first day of 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 many Orthodox Jews commemorate the Holocaust on Yom Hashoah, some in the Orthodox community 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.
Commemoration
On the eve of Yom HaShoah in Israel, there is a state ceremony at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes Authority. At 10:00am on Yom HaShoah, throughout Israel, air-raid sirens are sounded for two minutes. During this time, people stop what they are doing and stand at attention; cars stop, even on the highways; and the whole country comes to a standstill as people pay silent tribute to the dead. On the eve of Yom HaShoah and the day itself, places of public entertainment are closed by law. Israeli television airs Holocaust documentaries and Holocaust-related talk shows, and low-key Hebrew and Yiddish songs are played on the radio. Flags on public buildings are flown at half mast.
Those Jews in the Diaspora who observe Yom HaShoah may observe it within the synagogue, as well as in the broader Jewish community. Commemorations range from synagogue services to communal vigils and educational programs. Many Yom HaShoah programs feature a talk by a Holocaust survivor, recitation of appropriate psalms, 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 around, Yom HaShoah.
Also during this day, tens of thousands of Israeli high-school students, and thousands of Jews from around the world, hold a memorial service in Auschwitz, in what has become known as "The March of the Living," in defiance of the Holocaust Death Marches. This event is endorsed and subsidized by the Israeli Ministry of Education and the Holocaust Claims Conference, and is considered an important part of the school curriculum – a culmination of several months of studies on World War II and the Holocaust.
In Israel, observance is moved back a day if 27 Nisan falls on a Friday or forward a day if 27 Nisan falls on a Sunday (to avoid adjacency with the Jewish Sabbath). In the Diaspora, Yom HaShoah is generally observed on 27 Nisan regardless.
See also
- The Holocaust
- Genocide
- Bereavement in Judaism
- Ani Ma'amin — the Hymn of Judaism's 13 principles, and belief in the Jewish Messiah, sung in the Camps, often sung at Holocaust memorial services.
- Holocaust Memorial Day — the annual Holocaust memorial in the United Kingdom
- Yad VaShem - Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust
External links
- Yom HaShoah from the Israeli Knesset (in English)
- Yom HaShoah from the Israeli Knesset (in Hebrew)
- Holocaust Memorial Day (Yom Ha-Shoah) at the Jewish Virtual Library
- Hundreds protest at Knesset over state neglect of Holocaust survivors
- Israeli Calendar for 2007
References
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| Jewish holidays and observances |
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| Israeli public holidays | |||||||||
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