Holocaust Remembrance Day and COVID19

April 21, 2020

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Yom HaShoah. Observed 7 days after Passover on the 27th of Nisan, this is the day that Jewish people around the world stop and remember the victims of the Holocaust.

Shoah is the Hebrew word for Holocaust, and it literally means "catastrophe." Six million Jews, and many others, senselessly and brutally murdered over just a few years. "Catastrophe" is fitting.

"Never forget. Never again." This is the watchword of the Jewish people regarding the Holocaust. There are many in the world, in not-so-thinly-veiled antisemitism, who deny that the Holocaust happened. Jewish people remember and they do not forget. So must we. Let us be those who remember the Holocaust and advocate for the Jewish people.

In Israel today, a siren sounds. Most people will stop and stand still, silent, for two full minutes. A pause across the whole country to honor and remember those who were lost. To grieve six million Jewish souls. Normally cars will stop and pull over, businesses will stop transactions. A brief "solemn assembly," each in their own place.

2020 is a strange year in Israel to observe Yom HaShoah. Everyone is already stopped. Currently Israel is on strict lockdown due to COVID-19, and citizens are not allowed to go further than 100 meters from their homes. Businesses are already shut down. Israelis are already "on pause."

However, in this forced worldwide pause, 2020 is shaping up to be a year well-suited for stopping and remembering. For grief. For gratitude. For getting quiet and reflecting on our lives. Last week I heard an Israeli from Tel Aviv say of COVID-19, "it feels as if God has sent the whole world to their rooms to think about what they've done."

As you remember the Lord and His hand in your own life, remember His people. The Jewish people. Remember Israel. Take some time today to remember the unspeakable tragedy of the Holocaust.

But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me;

my Lord has forgotten me.”

“Can a woman forget her nursing child,

that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?

Even these may forget,

yet I will not forget you.

Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;

your walls are continually before me.

Isaiah 49:14-16