A Yom Hashoah Remembrance

Shabbat Shalom.

As we come to this year’s Yom Hashoa commemoration—which will be held Sunday, at 7:00 p.m. in Plummer Park—Our thoughts turn to those terrible years during the 20th Century when a deep dark evil flowed over the face of our world and strangled the Jewish people. The Shoa—the Holocaust is always with us. Not just one day a year. Not just one service a year but always. Like the tattooed numbers placed on Jewish arms by the Nazis, the Holocaust, its memory of pain and horror, treachery and murder is tattooed on our Jewish souls.

We still feel that stranglehold as a People. Even as we remember the six million who were murdered--- we feel the stranglehold in our diminished numbers as a people. Hitler and his evil minions succeeded in many ways. Oh yes, we are still here, a small remnant of the Jewish people and they were defeated—but between assimilation, low birth rate among Jews, and conversion to other religions—our numbers as a people are small and shrinking. We are an insignificant percentage of the world population. Europe once thriving with Jewish life—is a shadow of its former Jewish self.

We still feel that Stranglehold as a People—in the easily fueled Anti-Semitism that is making itself known again throughout the world. Like the Nazis and countless others before them—the old canards of Jewish world domination—continue to foment hatred and violence against world Jewry. Christ killers, money- grubbers—each of these horrible lies, which the Nazi propaganda machine also utilized have resurfaced reminding our people of the horror of that time. As these lies swirl still whether in the Arab media or fascist newsletters, or on the big screen it is not a far stretch to imagine persecution because we are Jewish in our own lives. As schools’ in Montreal are bombed….

The Holocaust is with us as we see more and more of the survivors die—the true eyewitnesses to the horror and hatred; the ones who could give testimony to the terror of that time. With each death of a survivor—not only do our communal hearts ache—but it gets harder and harder to refute those who say the Holocaust never happened.

A generation is growing up without Holocaust education. It is rarely taught about in our public schools. It is rarely discussed outside Jewish circles. The memories of the atrocities of that time are fading as the survivors die. And the unimaginable –is happening—no one will be left to remember!

Some say there is too much emphasis on the Holocaust in Jewish circles. Too many museums… too much sadness. If the Holocaust is the only tie to Judaism then it is indeed a problem. For Judaism is much more than the Holocaust and its memory. But if we do not teach it, if we do not study it, if we do not memorialize our loved one who died during it, if we do not celebrate the martyrs and heroes of the Holocaust, the liberators, soldiers, partisans, freedom fighters of the Ghettos—then we will allow the stranglehold of Nazi evil to finish the task they began.

Each member of the temple was sent through the generosity of the Men Of Kol Ami – a special yellow Holocaust memorial candle. We thank MOKA for this important gift and for their commitment to memory. Tonight I ask each of you on Saturday evening and Sunday to light your yellow candle. To be the beacon of remembrance even as there are those who try to erase the memories of six million Jews, one million children, seven million others—gypsies, gay men and lesbians, the disabled and mentally ill, communists, union members, political prisoners, Jehovah witnesses.

Be a beacon of remembrance as we tonight recall the numerous villages and towns erased by the Nazis but who live again through our Jewish commitment. Be a Beacon of Remembrance as we say kaddish tonight for all those who died during the Holocaust.

The three million Jews of Poland who died. More than a million from the Soviet Union and more than a million Jews from the Balkan and Slavic countries; 325,000 Jews from Germany, Austria, France and Italy and Holland

The Jews of Rhodes and Cyprus all gone…

We pray for them and we remember tonight, on Yom Hashoa on Sunday and all of our lives as well.

May their memory live for a blessing.