The Early Holocaust Memorial Days Advocated by Gedolim

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com

Yom HaShoah is known as Holocaust Remembrance Day.  What many people are unaware of is the earlier history of the desire to establish such a date.  In this article, we will discuss the opinions of three great Rabbinic figures who advocated establishing a specific day in the Jewish calendar to memorialize the victims of the holocaust.  The purpose was to create an opportunity for a communal fast and to memorialize those who were tragically murdered and whose yahrtzeit date we do not know. One of these Gedolim also stated that it was so that future generations would be aware of what the nation had lost.

The three Rabbinic figures were, the Satmar Rebbe zt”l, Rav Aharon Kotler zt”l, and Rav Yaakov Yechiel Weinberg zt”l.

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THE SATMAR REBBE ZT”L

After the war, a number of Rabbis approached Rav Yoel Teitelbaum zt”l  (1887–1979), the Satmar Rebbe to establish a Yom HaZikaron for the victims of the holocaust on the day before Rosh Chodesh Sivan.  He responded to this request of Moreinu HaRav Pinchas Halpert, on the 8^th of Iyar in the year 5706 – May 9^th, 1946.  He writes:  I received your letter regarding the matter of making Erev Rosh Chodesh Sivan a Yom HaZikaron.  Now certainly it is a proper thing to do and to establish it on Erev Rosh Chodesh Sivan as he has written with all the details.  But to do so as a neder (a vow) is quite difficult in these times when there are many breaks in the fences.. and in new obligations it can Heaven forbid be a source of new stumbling blocks, as the verse says, it is preferable not to make vows..especially regarding fasts in this weak generation.. But even so, one can do so without a neder.  The main thing is to make fences and protections to establishing the Holy Torah – for this is our life.  The letter is reprinted below.

RAV AHARON KOTLER ZT”L

What is not so well known is that Rav Aharon Kotler zatzal (1891-1962) was not only supportive of establishing a memorial day for Holocaust victims, but he actually spearheaded a movement to establish such a day after the war was over.  The day that he advocated to establish as commemorating this enormous tragedy in world history was the seventh day of Cheshvan.  The letters, to this author’s knowledge, have never been printed or published.  They are found in the archives of Rav Aharon Kotler zatzal held in the Lakewood Yeshiva.  Those archives form a treasure trove of recent Jewish history.  This author was privileged to spend time in those archives examining and reading Rav Aharon’s letters and correspondences.  The letters have a deep emotional element, as Rav Aharon desperately tried to save those who were destined to perish in the holocaust.  It was not clear to this author as to why this date was chosen.

RAV YAAKOV YECHIEL WEINBERG ZT”L

Rav Yaakov Yechiel Weinberg (1884-1966), the last Rosh Yeshiva of Rav Azriel Hildesheimer’s yeshiva in Berlin and a talmid of the Slabodka Yeshiva,  zatzal wrote (see Responsa Sridei Aish Vol. 1:31):  In my opinion, it is proper to institute a specific day of mourning and commemoration for the Rabbis and holy victims that were murdered, slaughtered, and burned al kiddush Hashem, and to remember on this date the neshamos of these holy people.  We must do so not only for the honor of these Holy people alone, but we must also do so for the generations to come so that we will not forget what our nation has lost.

THE ORIGINAL RABBANUT OF ISRAEL DATE

On December 28, 1949, which was on the fast day of Asarah b’Teives, many people living in Israel observed the first Yom HaShoah, based upon a decision of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel that an annual memorial should take place on the Tenth of Tevet, a traditional day of mourning and fasting in the Hebrew calendar.

On that day, in a cemetery in Yerushalayim, ashes and bones of thousands of Kedoshim were brought to the newly formed state of Israel from the Flossenbürg concentration camp (near Munich) and were buried in Yerushalayim.

The next year, on December 19, 1950, the Israeli Rabbinate, along with organizations of expatriates of former European Jewish communities and the Israel Defense Forces held memorial ceremonies around the country.

THE KNESSET STEPS IN

In 1951, members of the Knesset decided to choose their own date for Holocaust Remembrance Day. A vote was held on April 12, 1951.  The vote entertained and dismissed the possible dates of the 10th of Taives, and the 14th of Nisan, and September 1^st.  The 14^th of Nissan was entertained because it was the day on which the Warsaw Ghetto uprising (April 19, 1943) began. September 1^st, was entertained because it was the date on which World War Two began.  Ultimately, the Knesset passed a resolution establishing the 27 Nisan in the Hebrew calendar, a week after Passover, and eight days before Israel Independence Day as the annual Holocaust and Ghetto Uprising Remembrance Day.

Thus it was on May 3^rd, 1951, that the first officially organized Holocaust Remembrance Day event was held at the Chamber of the Holocaust on Mount Zion; the Israel Postal Service issued a special commemorative envelope; and a bronze statue of the 24 year old Mordechai Anielewicz, the leader of the Warsaw Ghetto revolt, was unveiled at Yad Mordechai, a kibbutz that was named for him.

In subsequent years, a number of articles were published in the Chareidi press expressing various rationales as to why a Yom HaShoah should not be established.  (One reason was that all Jewish tragedies are subsumed under Tisha B’Av).  In this article we have presented the opinion of three Gedolim indicating that such a day should be established.  Why then was the idea, by and large, not adopted by the Chareidi world?

TWO PRIMARY REASONS

It is this author’s view that there are two primary reasons for this.  The first is that the Chareidi world feels that decisions pertaining to the Jewish calendar should be run by religious leaders and not by Knesset members.  The second reason is that there was a feeling in the 1950’s among the Chareidi community that the memory of those that were murdered was not being commemorated properly – because the Knesset chose the date based upon commemorating the spirit of “fighting back” so to speak, and not the actual memories of the victims.

What is sad is that the views of these three Gedolim that a special day should be inaugurated was never put into place.  What is also sad is that the words of Rav Yaakov Yechiel Weinberg zatzal, that the memory of what we as a nation have lost is also being forgotten because the victims of the holocaust are not being properly memorialized in our schools.

This author would like to commend Dr. Moshe Katz shlita for his tremendous work, writing and speaking about the holocaust and its victims in schools throughout the country.  May Hashem grant him arichas yamim.

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The author can be reached at [email protected]