Yom Hashoah

Tonight and tomorrow we commemorate Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. We are to pay tribute to our fallen brothers and sisters and the sacrifice they made for Klal Yisrael. Many believe that we would not have a State of Israel if not for the Shoah. The nations of the world were stricken with temporary guilt that allowed them to vote in the United Nations to establish a Jewish state.

This day should be one of giving tremendous gratitude and הכרת הטוב to Hashem for His abundant kindness.

Those under the age of forty have been fortunate to have lived an entire lifetime without witnessing any serious Jewish persecution. Today, Jews are free to practice their religion all over the world. And amazingly, the gates of Aliya are available to any Jew smart enough to take advantage of it.

I remember the persecution of Soviet Jewry, Syrian Jewry, Iranian Jewry, and Ethiopian Jewry. We often forget that our Galut was long and bitter and filled with poverty and every kind of suffering imaginable. The Holocaust was the worst of all persecutions.

This day of Yom Hashoah should be one of recognition as to how fortunate is our lot. And in the words of Rav Meir Kahane זצ״ל, "Never Again!"

Yesterday was twelve with ספירת העומר