Yom HaShoah or Holocaust Remembrance Day will be observed in Israel this coming Sunday night and Monday, coinciding with 28 Nissan 5774. There are currently 193,000 survivors living in Israel today, of which 50,000 are listed among the nation’s poor.
· An average of 1,000 survivors are niftar monthly
· Two-thirds of survivors are compelled to exist on a 3000 shekel monthly income
· 20% of survivors had to give up meals this past year in order to exist
· 17% of survivors lacked funds for medications this past year
· 60% of survivors believe the Holocaust will not be forgotten in the coming generations
While a day is dedicated to the memory of those who died Al Kiddush Hashem, the way in which the modern State of Israel cares for survivors today is far from commendable as this elderly population is counted among the growing number of Israelis living below the poverty level.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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6 Responses
Holocaust Day is Tisha B’Av not this artificial creation.
And to add insult to injury they decide to commemorate this sad event in a month where mourning is forbidden. In addition, this day was established against the wishes of the rabbonim who had suggested more fitting dates.
Toras Moshe – Tisha B’Av is Tisha B’Av. Let it be. We don’t need extra reasons to mourn then.
But… – Your hypocrisy astounds me! Mourning is not allowed but Sefirah mourning laws are allowed?! Additionally, when you say “the Rabbanim”, there are many Rabbanim in the world! Rav Yisrael Meir Lau shlit”a strongly supports this day, as Tisha B’Av is NOT in the school year!
Rabbi Lau doesn’t strongly support this secular made-up day at all. The Rabbonim already added kinos on Tisha B’Av for the holocaust.
Bogen – Rav Lau indeed does strongly support it. Also, “the Rabbonim” is a presumptuous term. MY Rabbanim don’t have any Kinot for the Holocaust on Tisha B’Av.
RY- instead of firing back the first thing that comes to mind why don’t you actually do some research!
Though Rabbi Lau is definitely choshuv I was reffering to a broad consensus of chareidi rabbonim in addition to the rabbanut at the time who wanted it on asarah b’teves.
And giving the school year as a reason to be reckoned with against halacha sounds pretty secular to me, besides the fact that this is not really an answer.
As an additional point I suggest reading “Mixed Emotions” (p. 43 of R’ Emanuel Feldman’s “Tales Out of Jerusalem”)for further opinion on the matter.