This year, beginning at sundown, April 7th and ending at sundown, April 8th, Israel and Jews worldwide observe Yom HaShoah, Israel Holocaust Remembrance Day, honoring the six million Jewish men, women, and children who were brutally murdered at the hands of the Nazi regime. During the observance, flags are flown at half mast, and at 10 a.m., air raid sirens sound throughout the country and Israelis stop wherever they are to observe a two-minute silence of solemn reflection. Learn more about this dark and tragic time through our many resources.
‘Never Again, Never Again!’
Listen to the voices of Holocaust survivors telling their harrowing stories.
A Day to Remember
In 1961, a law was passed in Israel that requires all public entertainment venues to be closed on Yom HaShoah to maintain the solemnity of the day. At 10:00 a.m., sirens are sounded throughout the nation and everyone in Israel stops what they are doing for two minutes to stand in silent remembrance.
As Rabbi Eckstein wrote in How Firm a Foundation, “All Jews alive today regard themselves as Holocaust survivors since Hitler’s plan was genocidal—to eradicate the entire Jewish nation. All bear the awesome responsibility of telling the story of those excruciating years” (p.170).
How Do We Respond to the Holocaust?
But how does one address something so devastating: something that is at once unfathomable, yet real; something unspeakable that we nonetheless must discuss in order to prevent it from ever happening again?
Recommended: Never Forget, Never Again
The Rabbi wrote, “The appropriate way to confront the Holocaust is first through silence and then through well-considered words. only after mourning the terrible loss dare we speak of that tragedy; only after reverential silence may we risk talking about it” (Ask the Rabbi, p. 152).
Of the many Jewish responses to the Holocaust, support for Israel is perhaps the most widely accepted and deeply felt. “Israel is the symbol of the contemporary Jewish resolve to live after having been tormented and persecuted for centuries. She epitomizes the Jewish rebirth as a dynamic, living people. . . . The existence of Israel goes to the very core of Jewish identity today,” stated Rabbi Eckstein in How Firm a Foundation (pages 196–97).
In the same manner, supporting the beleaguered State of Israel after the Holocaust is one of the most profound acts of friendship Christians can extend toward Jews.
Noted Christian historian Franklin Littell wrote, “It is not possible to love a ‘Spiritual Israel’ and hate the earthly Israel. It is not possible to honor and obey the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and wish evil to the Jewish people. To lay it on the line: it is not possible to side with those who seek Jerusalem’s destruction and be numbered a faithful Christian. It was not possible in the Germany of the Third Reich, and it is not possible today in America.” [Franklin Littell, Christians Concerned for Israel, Notebook (April 1971): 1.]
The reality of the Holocaust challenges Christian and Jew alike to grapple with difficult and soul-searching questions that plumb the depths of faith. Again, Rabbi Eckstein wrote, “Is it possible for Christians and Jews to still believe in a God who is omniscient and omnipotent after His deafening silence when we needed Him most? Can we speak as we did earlier of God’s abundant love and concern for mankind? Can we talk of a good God guiding the course of history, while knowing that some events seem to reflect the utter absence of His love and guidance?”
Faith Is the Answer
Nevertheless, Rabbi Eckstein maintains that the individual of faith is compelled to confront such questions, trusting that both God and his or her own faith in God can withstand the challenge.
Through his chapter entitled “Facing the Challenges of the Holocaust” in How Firm A Foundation, Rabbi Eckstein concludes, “The primary imperative Jews have elicited from the Holocaust is to live, and never allow a similar Holocaust to occur again.” And likewise for the Christian.
Again, the Rabbi writes, “The primary imperative to be elicited by Christians from the Holocaust is equally as compelling as is that of the Jews—to expunge any and all traces of anti-Semitism and anti-Judaism from their midst. . . . They, too, are divinely obligated to ensure Jewish survival and to prevent a future Holocaust.
My Grandfather’s Story
Fellowship staff writer Yonit Rothchild shares the harrowing Holocaust story of how her grandfather, Max Grinblatt, survived and how his experiences shaped him — and their entire family.
Read more about my grandfather’s Holocaust story.
Take our quiz on Yom HaShoah to discover its historical meaning and how it is observed today.