Yom HaShoah Thought

Rabbi Maury Grebenau

Today we remember the lives of the six million who lost their lives in the horrors of the Shoah. The number is still far too large to comprehend. As we move farther and farther from the events of the war it becomes even more challenging to continue to educate the next generation about the events and their impact. A few years ago I was looking through a booklet given out at a communal Yom HaShoah event. Current Holocaust survivors in the area were listed as well as those who had passed away since the war. I realized that the list of those who had passed away was significantly longer than the list of those who were still alive. The next day I told my eighth grade class that they had a major responsibility. Although they would have the ability to meet people who experienced the Holocaust personally, their children almost certainly would not. They needed to really internalize the lessons of the Holocaust and know the History far better than previous generations. For them to keep the memory alive they needed to have a much clearer picture of the events that took place. These same students, now high school seniors, just returned a few weeks ago from the March of the Living. There, they did their best to experience the camps so that they could truly internalize the History which unfolded in the camps. The story is told of an older man, a survivor, who lived in New York City. Every day he would attend Shacharis at his local shteibel and then he would sit outside on a bench staring into the street until 10:00 AM. One of the other minyan goers once asked him to explain this rather bizarre custom. He explained that he was watching the buses take the Jewish children to school. IN the wake of the destruction of the Holocaust he felt that there was nothing more important and no more beautiful sight than busloads of children traveling to receive a Jewish education. It is a powerful message that we must strive to live as Jews. So much more so for the sake of the memory of the many who died as Jews. When the Rambam speaks of the laws of Kiddush Hashem (sanctification of G-d name) he first discusses the commandments which we are supposed to violate when our lives are endangered. Only then does he explain the three commandments which are an exception to this rule. The three things we must give up our lives rather than violate. The message of the Rambam seems to be that the most important aspect of sanctifying Hashems name is to live as a proud Jew. It is only a secondary notion that we also at times must die as proud Jews. The former chief Rabbi of Israel, Rav Lau, spoke to these high school seniors when they were on the March of the Living trip. He told them that the Holocaust proves that we can die together but it is far better that we should live together. Throughout history, the Jewish people have shown that they can come together in times of crisis. We have struggled to have that same sense of community when we are not in crisis. There is no better message to take away from Yom HaShoah than the importance of Jewish education and the necessity of Jewish community.