Religious Living / Observance
Yom HaShoah
Yom HaShoah
27 Nisan
This article was written by Stephen Butterfass for Religious Living on the Web.
"What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries to me from the ground". Genesis 4:10
Shoah is a Hebrew word meaning destruction, utter ruin, calamity. Arguably, it is a more appropriate description than 'holocaust' (devastation by fire, a burnt offering), to describe the experience of European Jewry under the Nazi terror:
"All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us. Terror and the pit are come upon us, Desolation and destruction".
Lamentations 3:46-47
In 1951, the Israeli Knesset designated the twenty-seventh day of Nisan, a national day of mourning for the victims of the Nazis. The day was to be called Yom HaShoah. In 1977 the Central Conference of American Rabbis included the annual commemoration of this date in the Reform liturgy, and included readings for a service in the new 'Gates of Prayer' (pages 407-411). Many synagogues began the practice of distributing memorial candles to be lit in homes, to encourage congregants to fulfill the mitzvah of remembering the six million murdered Jews.
We are encouraged to remember and honor those righteous non Jews who risked their lives or who lost their lives through efforts to rescue Jews. It is important for the Jewish community to reach out and include others in this commemoration, together to decry the sins of silence, complicity, and outright hatred that allowed the Jews to perish isolated and defenseless.
The Shoah is one of the dominant themes of modern Hebrew poetry. Through the beauty of language, these events and images are preserved in our consciousness. The following poem is entitled 'Isaac' by Amir Gilboa, It weaves the familiar biblical theme of the sacrifice of Abraham's son, a holocaust that was prevented, with the real dread of our time. The poem can be found in The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse, (The Viking Press, 1981), edited and translated by T.Carmi.
"At dawn, the sun strolled in the forest
together with me and father, and my
right hand was in his left.
Like lightning a knife flashed among
the trees. And I am so afraid of my
eyes terror, faced by blood on the
leaves.
Father, father, quickly save Isaac so
that no one will be missing at the
midday meal.
It is I who am being slaughtered, my
son, and already my blood is on the
leaves. And father's voice was
smothered and his face was pale.
And I wanted to scream, writhing not
to believe, and tearing open my eyes.
And I woke up.
And my right hand was drained of
blood.
Shabbat
Chametz
Chanukah
Counting the Omer
Elul
Havdalah
Jonah
Kiddush for the Eve of Yom Tov
Kohelet
Kol Nidre
On Death and Mourning
Pesach
Proverbs
Purim
Rosh Hashanah
Shavuot
Simchat Torah
Song of Songs
Sukkot
The Scroll of Ruth
Tisha B'av
Tu B'Shevat
Words of the Prophets
Yom Ha'Atzma'ut
Yom Kippur
Kiddush
