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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
2012 Day of Remembrance
for the Victims of the Holocaust
“Choosing to Act: Stories of Rescue”
• • •
Thursday,
April 19,
2012
•
7:00-8:30pm
Grout
Museum,
Waterloo
Co-sponsored
by
Sons of Jacob Synagogue, Waterloo
UNI Holocaust and Genocide Education Program
Cedar Valley Interfaith Council
•
The Catholic Parishes in Waterloo
Click here
for more details
___________________________________________________________________
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 other individuals who, for whatever
reason, were considered racially inferior or "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 lighting 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 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.
In the United States, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
establishes a theme and coordinates planning each year for the
annual
“Day
of Remembrance”
which coincides with Yom HaShoah.
(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
Bill Moyer's Interview with Elie Wiesel
Information About Jewish-Catholic Relations
Official
Statements
Statement of the International Catholic-Jewish Committee, 2011
Pope
Benedict's New Year Message to Rome's Jewish Community, 2010
Statement of the Bilateral Catholic-Jewish Commission, 2010
Pope
Benedict's Address at the Synagogue in Rome, 2010
Pope Benedict's Address to Representatives of the Conference of
Presidents
of Major American Jewish
Organizations, 2009
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
Current State of Vatican-Israeli Relations (2010)
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
Watch this video
series of Pope Benedict's views on the Shoah
Read
this story of a Catholic family who was killed for protecting
Jewish neighbors
Posted 04.24.08 • Last Update
04.04.12 |