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| Rail to Auschwitz (Photo by Pimke) |
HaShoah (“Holocaust Remembrance Day,” or simply
“Holocaust Day”) – commemorates the millions who were murdered by Hitler’s Nazi regime, as well as the heroic efforts to resist such evil.
Officially begun in 1953, this Israeli national day was signed into law by then-Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and then-President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi. It generally occurs on the 27th of Nisan (March/April), eight days before Israeli Independence Day (Yom Ha’atzma’ut). The Megillat HaShoah,
which Wikipedia defines as “a scroll and liturgical reading for Yom HaShoah, a joint project of Jewish leaders in Israel, the United States and Canada,” has become an integral part of many Yom HaShoah
events.
Why add to the already-rich liturgy of Judaism? Why not just continue on with the Mourner’s Kaddish and the Kel Maleh Rachamim? Rabbi David Golinkin of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem explains: “The idea was to compile a short liturgical piece in six chapters that would outline the main experiences of the Holocaust: the background for the Holocaust in Europe; the ghetto; work camps; concentration camps and gas chambers; an elegy for the victims of the Holocaust; and the survivors and
the establishment of the State of Israel.”
Rabbi Golinkin compares the Megillat HaShoah to the Megillat Eichah
(the Scroll of Lamentations which
“commemorates the destruction of the First Temple”). He further notes that the presence of Exodus liturgy
within Passover Seder rituals insures remembrance of another key cataclysmic event within Jewish history.
Golinkin concludes his explanation of why the Megillat Hashoah
is sorely needed with these three points: survivors
(and therefore living testimonies) of the Holocaust are rapidly disappearing; historic events in Judaism have been traditionally “anchored in religious rituals;” plus, there is a growing movement of Holocaust deniers and of Holocaust distorters.
Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikkun_megillat_hashoah
http://www.schechter.edu/insightIsrael.aspx?ID=34
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_HaShoah
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