Definition:

Yom HaShoah is observed on the 27th Nisan as Holocaust Day.

When the State of Israel was founded in 1948, it was felt that it was important to have a way of commemorating the traumatic events, but it was extremely painful because they were so recent.

There were various discussions as to which day should be selected, and the 27th Nisan was chosen because of its closeness to the uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto. The full title of the day is Yom HaShoah v’HaGevurah, Day of the Destruction and Heroism. Many in Israel in the immediate aftermath of the Shoah were traumatised, and also very ashamed of the image that Jews had gone ‘like lambs to the slaughter’, and by linking the day with the resistance efforts of the Warsaw Ghetto was felt to be more positive. The day is observed in Israel with a silence, with public ceremonies, and the closure of places of entertainment.

As the years have passed, its observance has become all the more important, both in Israel and the Diaspora. Different services and ceremonies have evolved, often with a survivor as a speaker, and it is usual to light 6 memorial lights to commemorate the six million. There is also a new understanding of the legacy of the Holocaust for the second and third generation.

While Yom HaShoah is the Jewish Holocaust Memorial Day, since 2001, Britain, in common with many other countries worldwide, has observed January 27th, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, as National Holocaust Memorial Day, with the object of focussing on the Holocaust and other genocides. The Jewish community has been very involved with this at national and local level, but, at the moment Yom HaShoah still remains very important for the Jewish community.

More Information:

Find the latest dates for upcoming-festivals in the Reform Movement Calendar.

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