What Do We Remember on Holocaust Remembrance Day

Majdanik in all its horror -the bunkers, electric fences, mausoleum of ashes, crematorium and city of Lublin can be seen. (Complete Majdanik Post)




Today is Yom Hashoah . . . Holocaust Remembrance Day.

My cousin went on the March of the Living trip -making her the second in the family to spend time in Poland since my Great Grandfather left almost one hundred year ago.

I told her to keep an eye out for Mendishke -a friend of mine who was in Krakow today helping out. In a large crowd she managed to pick him out . . . with a good sense of my family's chutzpa she approached him and asked if he was indeed Menishke (She apparently called him Gingi -as I had describe him as being such) . . . When he confirmed her suspicions she asked him if he knew Mottel . . . his affirmative response led them to have brief conversation -the details of which I do not yet know.


My cousin, Tzirel Devorah in Auschwitz
What ever the case, there is indeed power hidden behind the March of the Living -thousands of Jews marching on blood soaked ground . . .

Yet, much like Yom Hashoah (see below) I feel that the march is devoid of inner meaning.

We lived in Poland for a thousand years. They killed us. We now have Israel, we had Hertzel, we had Ben-Gurion, we have Jerusalem . . . we've had some six wars, we have terrorists, we have a political divide between fellow Jews larger then the Mid-Atlantic rift . . . And now? And what? The March fails to give a truly fulfilling answer. The students starve in Oświęcim -Auschwitz, they shed tears of joy at the Western Wall . . . but no inner direction is offered (Save by group leaders, who can, and at times do, choose to make more of it)
But what of the actual Yom Hashoah?

A day ought to exist, but the 27 of Nissan, our Yom Hashoah, has little to do with the Holocaust . . .

The original day planned for Yom Hashoah had been the start of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising . . . It was moved to the middle of the uprising.

Why? Because by the convoluted standards of Ben Gurion and his ilk, the Jews who "fought" were the Jews to be truly remembered.

Look at the picture of the monument in Warsaw to the left . . .

Half naked and muscular figures stand armed to the tooth like bold Rambos . . . This must be an accurate depiction of the war . . .

On the back of the monument (not pictured here) emaciated Jews clutching Torah scrolls are led like sheep to the slaughter . . .

The message of who we wish to remember is clear.

I do not speak ill of Mordechai Anielewicz, his plans were meant for the best . . .

But the result of the uprising?

The death of Warsaw's remaining Jews in Treblinka, and the complete destruction of the Ghetto -upon whose rubble I once tread . . .

We should remember, yes, but in the proper manner . . .

Warsaw is full of Holocaust history: The S.S. headquarters, The mass grave of 10,000 people who died in the ghetto, the site of the last bunker used during the Ghetto Uprising . . . yet for some reason, the massive monument in the middle of a park made in the 1950's is the place for tourists to commemorate Warsaw's bloody past. Go figure . . .

*Ach*

Last year I witnessed a unique new tune to accompany our memories of the Holocaust. A group of Israelis -a good two hundred strong- came to remember the past.

When they started this song my opinion of Yom Hashoah was vindicated . . .

For it was not 'Ani Ma'amin' -sung by Jews as they marched to the Gas Chambers.

Nor was it 'Kel Maleh Rachamim' -the traditional prayer for the dead.

Not even was it one of the many songs created by the Partisans.

It was the Theme Song of "Schindler's List"

Now, don't get me wrong -I happen to find John William's soundtrack for the movie to be both haunting and poignant . . . but still . . .



This was little more then the 'religion of the Holocaust' -a chance to remember the past how we'd like to remember it then how it really was . . . A self-serving move that enables us to feel good (or rather feel bad -which then in turn makes us feel good . . . about feeling bad.)

Instead of saying that the Holocaust will motivate us to "end all genocide around the world", we must bring it down to a practical level . . .

Why not help a sick person in the hospital?

Put on the Tefillin that so many who died could not?



But then again, that would require us to do more then feeling good that we feel bad.

Perhaps, however, the day of Yom Hashoah does connect to another day of importance . . .
Chof Zayan Nissan is Zach -purity . . . Like the pure oil that is squeezed from an olive, the essence of a Jew comes out with pressure. The trials and tribulations of the Holocaust did not destroy; they revealed the essence of the Jew . . . It was the darkest hour, but from there we can bring out the light.

The next day is Chof Ches (28) Nissan; the Koach (Strength -a a play on the number Chof Ches, when read as word it spells Koach in Hebrew) of Nissan -the month of miracles of redemption . . . The day when the Rebbe told us that there is no logical explanation to why we were are still in exile, an exile that brought about an equally illogical Holocaust . . .

IF today we do add in deed, real deed . . . Tears, real tears . . . we feel our cries of enough . . . then we will truly create a March of the Living to Jerusalem.



(Taken in part from Yom Hashoah? A vote no and Monumental -yet devoid)





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