This week, we commemorate Yom HaShoah (May 2, 2019), Holocaust Remembrance Day. When we lived in Israel for a year, as part of my rabbinic training at Hebrew Union College, I was asked to participate in a ceremony remembering the victims of the Holocaust. These ceremonies, many of which are centered around lighting 6 candles, one for each million people Continue Reading
Never Again is Now
Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp was liberated on this day, January 27, in 1945. Today, the world remembers that 17 million souls, including one-third of the global population of Jews, were murdered in the genocide of the Nazi regime. How is it possible that such atrocities were committed? First, the Nazis began by portraying Jews and other Continue Reading
Israel’s “Secular High Holy Days”
Tonight, May 9, 2016 is Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s memorial day. It is a national holiday that commemorates “fallen soldiers” – those that have given their lives for the county. And then within 48 hours, we will celebrate Yom Ha’Atzma’ut, Israel Independence Day. During my year living in Israel for the first year of rabbinic school, we experienced what has Continue Reading