Reply To: Tishah BeAv and Yom HaShoah

AY- which is why it’s not ideal to have Yom HaShoah in Nissan. If it were in the hands of the religious to decide, it likely would have been a different day… or maybe not even a separate day at all. My point was, now that Yom HaShoah does exist in this unideal time of year, should we separate from our fellow (albeit secular) Jews in commemorating the Holocaust on that day or join together? The fact that Chazal did enact nihugei aveilus during Nissan just demonstrates that it’s not a hard and fast prohibition… otherwise they wouldn’t have been able to do that in the first place.

Interestingly enough, the nihugei aveilus during sefirah are to commemorate and rectify the sinas chinam that caused the deaths of R’ Akiva’s students. Chazal seemingly felt that the rectification of sinas chinam (or the rectification of not treating each other with respect) is a strong enough value that it warrants nihugei aveilus even in the happy month of Nissan. One can argue that choosing to separate from our fellow Jews in commemorating the Holocaust, something that my inadvertently cause an increase in sinas chinam and creates the impression of disrespect for one another, is taking the opposite message from Chazal who seemed to prioritize the evils of sinas chinam and disrespect over the happiness of Nissan.