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“I have come to Yad Vashem to pay homage to the millions of
Jewish people who, stripped of everything, especially of their
human dignity, were murdered in the Holocaust. More than half a
century has passed, but the memories remain. Here, as at
Auschwitz and many other places in Europe, we are overcome by
the echo of the heart-rending laments of so many. Men, women and
children cry out to us from the depths of the horror that they
knew. How can we fail to heed their cry? No one can forget or
ignore what happened. No one can diminish its scale. We wish to
remember. But we wish to remember for a purpose, namely to
ensure that never again will evil prevail, as it did for the
millions of innocent victims of Nazism.”
--Pope John Paul II at Yad Vashem
Museum in Jerusalem, 2000
The Catholic Parishes in Waterloo Invite You
to Join Us for
A COMMUNITY COMMEMORATION OF
Yom Hashoah
2008 Day of Remembrance
for the Victims
of the Holocaust
• • •
Thursday, May 1, 2008
7:00-8:00pm
Waterloo Center for the Arts
Co-sponsored by
Sons of Jacob Synagogue, Waterloo
University of Northern Iowa Holocaust Remembrance and Education
Program
The Catholic Parishes in Waterloo
___________________________________________________________________
What Is Yom Hashoah?
Yom Hashoah is a day set aside for Jews to remember the Holocaust.
The name comes from the Hebrew word “shoah”, which means
“whirlwind”.
Six million Jews were killed during the Holocaust. Other
holocaust victims included Slavs, Gypsies, homosexuals, disabled
people, anyone of African descent, Christian pastors and
Catholic priests, Jehovah's Witnesses, Russian prisoners of war,
trade unionists and any other individuals who, for whatever
reason, were considered racially inferior or seen as
degenerates.
It is believed that a total of 15 million people died. Up to
1.5 million children were among the victims, the vast majority of
them Jewish. Disabled children and the children of Roma Gypsies
were also murdered by the Nazi regime.
Yom Hashoah was established in Israel in 1959 by law. It falls
on the 27th of the Jewish month of Nissan, a date chosen because
it is the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.
Yom Hashoah ceremonies include the lighting of candles for Holocaust
victims, and listening to the stories of survivors. Religious
ceremonies include prayers such as Kaddish for the dead and the
El Maleh Rahamim, a memorial prayer.
In
Israel Yom Hashoah is one of the most solemn days of the year.
It begins at sunset on 26th Nissan and ends, like all
traditional Jewish special days, the following evening. During
Yom Hashoah memorial events are held throughout the country,
with national ceremonies being held at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.
(Yad Vashem is the Jewish people’s memorial to the six million
Jews murdered in the Holocaust.)
On the morning of Yom Hashoah a siren is sounded for two minutes
throughout Israel and all work and other activity stops while
people remember those killed in the Holocaust.
(Courtesy BBC)
Mourner’s Kaddish
Glorified and sanctified be God's great name throughout the
world which He has created according to His will.
May He
establish His kingdom in your lifetime and during your days, and
within the life of the entire House of Israel, speedily and
soon; and say, Amen.
May His great name be blessed forever and to all eternity.
Blessed and praised, glorified and exalted, extolled and
honored, adored and lauded be the name of the Holy One, blessed
be He, beyond all the blessings and hymns, praises and
consolations that are ever spoken in the world; and say, Amen.
May there be abundant peace from heaven, and life, for us and
for all Israel; and say, Amen.
He who creates peace in
His celestial heights, may He create peace for us and for all
Israel; and say, Amen.
Never Forget...
First
they came for the Communists,
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then
they came for the Socialists,
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Socialist.
Then
they came for the trade unionists,
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then
they came for the Jews,
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then
they came for me—
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
-- Martin Niemoeller, pastor in the German Confessing Church
who spent eight
and a half years in a death camp.
Information About the Holocaust
and
Stories from Holocaust Survivors
Holocaust Encyclopedia/U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
Survivors' Stories
More
Survivors' Stories
Children of the Holocaust
Holocaust Pictures
Kaddish Prayer
Kaddish
Video
Information About
Jewish-Catholic Relations
Official Statements
Pope Benedict XVI's Statement to the Jewish Community in
Washington, 2008
Pope Benedict XVI's Statement at Auschwitz-Birkenau, 2006.
We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah (Commission for
Religious Relations
with the Jews, 1998)
Pope John Paul II's Statement at Yad Veshem Museum, Jerusalem,
2000.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, #597, 839
Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian
Religions
[Nostra Aetate]
(Second Vatican Council, 1965)
Recent Articles
Where
Dialogue with the Jews is Headed
Jews
Continue Dialogue with the Church
Cardinal Keller Condemns 'Revisionist' History of the Holocaust
Holy See
Considers Holocaust an 'Immense Tragedy'
Resources Online
National Catholic
Center for Holocaust Education
Center for Interreligious Understanding
Posted
04.24.08
• Last Update 04.26.08
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