Yom Hashoah: Holocaust Memorial Day

Lead by Rabbi Katz,Yom Hashoah was a beautiful service of remembrance at Congregation Beth El in Tyler, Texas.  Being a reform temple, Yom Hashoah was a musical program which opened with the "Theme from Schindler's List" played on the violin.  I looked around at the small group of maybe 75 people but thought of how it could have been non-existent.  The Holocaust claimed the lives of 6 million Jews and 5 million others at the hands of Nazis under Hitler's rule.  We were some who survived, remained, remembered.

Torah Processional

For those who are unfamiliar with the Torah, it is the first 5 books of the bible--the books of Moses.  It is also known as the Pentateuch (meaning five).  It contains:  Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.  It is G-D's covenant (agreement) with his people. 
A Sefer Torah is a hand written scroll on parchment.  The scrolls are stored in the Aron Kodesh ("Holy Ark") inside a temple or synagogue.  The highly decorated cabinet is designed to face Jerusalem.  The doors or curtain are all artistically unique painted or woven designs of doves, flowers, trees, the sea...
Beth El's Yom Hashoah scroll once belonged to a community in Roudnice, Czechoslovakia which was destroyed.  This scroll was written around 1850.  All scrolls were once cherished by congregations but as the Jews were savagely murdered, the scrolls were destroyed or stolen--some of which have been recovered and now in back in the hands of the people or museums.
It was carried through the temple dressed as a king on which for us to gaze and reflect.  Put in the Ark, "Shema Yisreal" was spoken, "Hear, O Israel:  the Lord is our G-D, the Lord is One!"

From the Diary of a Young Girl  (Anne Frank)

"Who has inflicted this upon us?  Who has made us Jews different from all other peoples?  Who has allowed us to suffer so terribly up till now?  It is God that has made us as we are, but it will be God, too, who will raise us up again.  If we bear all this suffering, and if there are still Jews left, when it is all over, then Jews, instead of being doomed, will be held up as an example.  Who knows, it might even be our religion from which the world and all peoples learn good, and for that reason and that reason only, do we have to suffer now.  We can never become just Netherlanders, or just English, or representatives of any  country for that matter, we will always remain Jews, but we want to, too..."

Community Declaration

Mourner's Kaddish, a prayer spoken to remember those who have passed and the sanctification of G-D's name, was spoken and the Hatikvah (Israeli National Anthem) sung.  Six candles were lit--one for each million Jews and flowers placed for the five million other children of G-D who died in the Holocaust. 

Together we made a "Community Declaration:"

Through the pain we have endured as a community,
we understand that there is never any excuse for genocide.
Yet, hatred and persecution exist in our world.
Together, may we find the courage to resist ignorance.
Together, may we find the courage to resist evil.
Together, may we find the courage to fight for those who need our help...
so that "never again" truly means "never again."

Leaving the temple, the Holocaust sculpture stood in the garden.  In it's silence it said,
"Triumph over Tragedy."