Why do we Need a Holocaust Remembrance Day? (UPDATED)

כ״ז לחודש הראשון תשע״ו

That's actually a very good question.

Holocaust Memorial Day was established in 1951 by the Israeli Government,...a "Workers Party of the Land of Israel" government. In other words, Labor Zionists, whose goal has always been to de-Judaize both the People and Land of Israel, made up this day. The day is half way between Passover, the Jewish holiday of freedom and Israel's Memorial Day.

The date, the 28th of the Hebrew month of Nissan, which like Independence Day, the government has deigned to move around as needed to reduce Shabboth violations, is also supposed to [sort of, but not really] coincide with the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, which actually began Erev Pesah, תש״ג/1943.

28 Nissan also happens to mark the liberation of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp by the American army in תש״ה/1945. However, this sounds more like a time for celebration than mourning. Many Jews died during Israel's War of Independence and Six Day War, yet we celebrate on these days. Besides, no matter how particularly nasty the Buchenwald Concentration Camp was, there were many others.

Oh, wait a minute. I forgot. This camp's liberation appears to be an after thought. (See above in the first paragraph.)

The idea to add Holocaust Memorial to the public fast day of the 10th of the Hebrew month of Teveth, an already established day of Jewish mourning, is often shunned by Religious Zionists. The State has made a decision, and so they must abide by it. Even though the 10 b'Teveth was designated as a memorial day for all those whose day of death is unknown, by none other than the State of Israel's Chief Rabbinate.

The creation of this made up memorial day is nothing more than manipulation by the State to keep various factions fighting with each other, a simple divide and conquer strategy which has worked so well for so long, not to mention gradually detracting us from Torah, in favor of... well,...something else.

Even the so-called "Conservative Movement" has argued for the 9th of the Hebrew month of Av, to be designated as Holocaust Memorial Day, as it is the date upon which many Jewish calamities in Jewish history have occurred, not the least of which being the judgment that B'nei Yisra'el would not immediately enter the Land of Israel after being taken out of Egypt, the destruction of both the First and Second Batei haMiqdash (Temples), the defeat at Beitar, and the plowing over Har HaBayith (Temple Mount) by the Romans (Mishnah Ta'anith 4:6).

Modern events related to the Holocaust having occurred on the 9 b'Av include:

• Germany entered World War I on August 1–2, 1914 (Av 9-10, AM 5674), which caused massive upheaval in European Jewry and whose aftermath led to the Holocaust.
• On August 2, 1941 (Av 9, AM 5701), SS commander Heinrich Himmler formally received approval from the Nazi Party for "The Final Solution."
•  As a result, the Holocaust began during which almost one third of the world's Jewish population perished. On July 23, 1942 (Av 9, AM 5702), began the mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto, en route to Treblinka.

Overall, this suggestion makes much more sense than a day in Nissan, a month in which Jews traditionally refrain from historical mourning practices. But, like I alluded to above, such an issue would not have concerned the Labor Zionists in the least.

So, the answer to the question as to why we need a Holocaust Memorial Day is that we do not need one. We already have one, two even. But, if I had written this at the beginning of the post, most of you would have stopped reading almost as soon as you had begun.

Instead of continuing to play the victim, to gain sympathy from the goyim (non-Jews), probably one of the only strategies the Israeli Government has left to delay the State of Israel's eventual destruction, what we really need is a Holocaust Prevention Day, which I wrote about back in 2009. This would involve the educating our children as to how to refrain from repeating our greatest historical mistakes, such as assimilation, intermarriage, and dependence on outside human forces for protection.

But, since the only way to do this would be to teach our children the Torah way of life, don't count on the Israeli Government to get on board anytime soon.