Yom HaShoah

Today in Israel is Yom HaShoa, beginning yesterday evening and finishing this evening. I have been a part of many different events on this day in the US and in Europe, but it is something different here in Israel. This country is built on the survivors from the Holocaust and having a memorial day here has had a strong impact on me. I have been to the camps during a semester spent studying Eastern European Jewry before, during and after the Holocaust, I went to Yad Vashem last week for my third visit, in every city I visit in the world I try to find their Holocaust Memorial or museum (if they exist), but being here for this has left me with a feeling in my body that is better than visiting any of those places. Here, it is as if the Jews really have done more, they have persevered and succeeded in the wake of this, but still remember it with the power of its occurence. There are 6.7 million Jews in Israel today, the same number as those killed in the Shoah.

In case you are not aware, Shoah is the Hebrew name for the European Holocaust. This word, in literal translation of the Hebrew word, means "calamity". The choice of this word is interesting, because the word in English "Holocaust" does not mean "calamity", but rather was originally defined as "a sacrifice consumed by fire", before it was the name for the European Holocaust. The definition of the word "calamity" is "a disastrous event marked by great loss and lasting distress and suffering", which I feel much more accurately defines what occured in Europe between 1931-1945. For this reason, I choose to use the word "Shoah" in place of the word "Holocaust" as often as possible. The disappointing thing to me, though, is that the world has not adopted this word, this title, for the destruction caused by the Nazis during WWII. Holocaust does not fully explain what happened during those years to Jews, Gyspsies, Homosexuals and all those that stood up to the Nazis. It was a true calamity, a time consumed by great loss and leaving long lasting suffering in the world for those involved, those who lost someone, and the groups discriminated against during its time.

In the US, the Holocaust is taught about in non-Jewish schools as a unit in a history class. During this unit, students are taught about it as something of the past, something from a far away land, and something that can never happen again. Here in Israel, it is taught
as something that the people who founded Israel were a part of such as the grandparents and aunts and uncles of everyone around them, as something that everyone must ensure never happen again. With this is a much most impactful connection than anywhere else in the world, we must be honest with ourselves that, in reality, it is happening and has happened in places like Armenia, Rwanda, Darfur, and Cambodia. When will genocide end? When will we learn?

Last night I watched a film with the 11th and 12th grades called "The Wave", which is based on a class in 1957 in Palo Alto, California. I had read about this but never seen the film, and while it was completely outdated in every way except the message, it was a great message to be made to any and all students. People ask all the time, "why did people allow the holocaust to happen?" "why did so many people follow Hilter?" "why didn't more people stand up to the Nazis?". Well, this story shows human proof of the answer to that question: it is human nature to follow. Essentially, the story is about a high school teacher who was presented with the question by a student "Why did no one stand up against the Nazi's?" "How could 6 million Jews be killed without anyone stopping the Nazi's?" As a result, he began a "movement" among the students called "The Wave" in which the students did not know it was only an experiment but began to act filled with power and superiority. In the end, he told them that a national leader of the movement would announce himself to them, but he got them all together and when they asked who the leader was, the teacher showed them a film of Hilter and his followers. Every student was so distraught to have learned that they too, followed without question, just like the Germans and the Nazis during the Shoah. The reason I mention this is that I consider myself a very involved and relatively conscious American Jew, and I worry that American school children are not taught this message, the message that will keep the Shoah from being repeated, the message that will help future generations prevent genocide, a message that could hopefully make this world a better place.

In Israel, Yom HaShoa is taken seriously by the students, and they are reminded every year for an entire day what happened during the Shoah, not only in a unit in high school or middle school. It is my hope that Yom HaShoa will be adopted throughout the world, the world that turned its back when this was happening, the world that allowed 6 million Jews die before they stopped the Nazis. But I am only one person-how am I to help this? How am I to make such a large difference? All I can do is blog to you all, who will hopefully pass the message on to friends and family, and maybe then we will not see the destruction in Darfur, maybe there will not be a new group discriminated against and killed for who they are, who their family is, their customs and history or for whatever reason. And if they are, maybe with the message I want to be portrayed though Yom HaShoa, more people will stand up to them. But we can only hope it is enough to educate and remember and send the right messages to the future generations.