Sunday, May 1, 2011

Yom HaShoah - Day of Remembrance

Are you aware that today (May 1), or the 27th day of Nissan according to the Jewish calendar, is one that bears an importance few of us knew about?  It is Yom HaShoah, or the Day of Remembrance, commemorating  the  victims of the Holocaust of Nazi Germany. I was not aware of it until I received an email last year at this time that spoke about it.   I would like to thank my cousin, Dale Brown, for bringing this very important date to my attention, and for giving me the ability to  once again bring it to yours.

On this day at a particular hour, sirens are blown all over the entire nation of Israel and six candles are lit  symbolizing the 6 million Jews, 1 million of them children, that died during that horrible time in history.  As the people are involved in their regular daily routines, they all stop what they are doing when they hear them.   They pause to remember the persecution and hatred, the cattle cars crammed with bodies, the concentration camps, the starvation, the medical experiments, the gas chambers, the ovens, and the mass graves.  They remember family members who silently went as sheep before the Nazi war machine that was bent on annihilating every Jew from the face of the earth.  To forget these atrocities would dishonor those who died.  To forget the past would place them in jeopardy of a repeat of the same thing in the future.  They remember because their very existence depends upon it.

I find it appalling that we have such short memories.  I am saddened that if it were not for a faithful few, our history books would be wiped clean of the monstrous and evil behavior that occurred and was perpetuated by the Germans and ignored by the world.  I am angered that our current government would forget the not-so-distant past and treat Israel's current leadership with such contempt and hatred over their desire, and right, to defend themselves.  I am disgusted that America is bending to the will of Israel's enemies, and turning a blind eye to the desire by lunatics like Ahmadinejad and other Arab leaders whose goal it is to once again attempt to "wipe them from the face of the earth."

But even more troubling is my confusion over the Christian community who harbor their own  misguided distrust and hatred for Israel, forgetting that they were a chosen people by God whom He would use to reveal Himself to the world.  Why would Christians not join Israel in their moment of remembrance?  Why would our shepherds not teach within the churches the importance of this day so that we could unite with Israel and bring it before God's throne in prayer?  The only answer I am able to arrive at is that there is a disturbing lack of desire within many Christian churches to encourage their congregants to support and defend them, and the importance of their role in God's ultimate plan and victory goes unnoticed or untaught.  I view it as a shameful thing that we so miserably fail in this regard.

From this point forward, there will never be another year that goes by that I will not join with the Jews and acknowledge Yom HaShoah.  There may not be sirens breaking the silence of the still air to remind me, but I will honor them with a moment to remember.  And I will pray for them.

The following video and song vividly, yet disturbingly, refreshed my memory of the horrible crimes that were committed against the Jewish people.  It is the purpose of this video to do so, and I hope it refreshes yours.