Day 60
Holocaust Memory and Holocaust Commemoration
Dedicated to my parents, Eli and Chava Fachler on the occasion of their 70th wedding anniversary. They escaped Germany just in time to build a dynasty of their own.
The 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz provides us with a most important opportunity to explore the issue of Holocaust memory and Holocaust commemoration. As time passes, and as the survivors pass on to their eternal reward, this matter becomes more crucial and urgent for our community.
Towards the end of November 1942, word reached the Yishuv in Israel for the first time about the full magnitude of the destruction of European Jewry that was, by then, well under way. In response to this terrible news, Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Israel since 1937, announced that 2nd December 1942/23 Kislev 5703 would be a day of fasting and prayer. On that day, a massive crowd of thousands, including several hundred rabbis led by the revered Rebbe of Gur, gathered first in the Hurvah Synagogue in Jerusalem’s Old City and then at the Kotel. They heard sounds of the shofar and recited prayers including verses from the Book of Lamentations and selections from the kinot (elegies) recited on the Ninth of Av.
