Let us together, today, honor Holocaust Remembrance Day, established by an act of Congress in 1998, this year falling on tomorrow Thursday April 8, but actually running through the week of April 4–11, 2021. The theme for 2021 is “Remembrance and Reflection.” This week of remembrance is set aside to honor and remember the victims of the Holocaust and their liberators. We remember the 6 million Jews, as well as the Roma and Sinti, Slavs, disabled persons, LGBTQ+ individuals, and many others who lost their lives during the Holocaust. We also pay tribute to the rescuers who risked their lives to save others during the Holocaust and to the American soldiers who liberated the concentration camps. President Biden has issued a proclamation from the White House, a beautiful document from which I quote. First he speaks of taking his children and grandchildren to Dachau
to impress on them the urgency to speak out whenever they witness anti-Semitism or any form of ethnic and religious hatred, racism, homophobia, or xenophobia. The legacy of the Holocaust must always remind us that silence in the face of such bigotry is complicity — remembering, as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote, that there are moments when “indifference to evil is worse than evil itself.”
And later he concludes:
Yom HaShoah reminds us not only of the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, but also reinforces our ongoing duty to counter all forms of dehumanizing bigotry directed against disability [and] marginalized communities. While hate may never be permanently defeated, it must always be confronted and condemned. When we recognize the fundamental human dignity of all people, we help to build a more just and peaceful world. In the memory of all those who were lost, and in honor of all those who survived, we must continue to work toward a better, freer, and more just future for all humankind.
Each one of you, do take a few moments to research, remember, and rededicate, once again, to the principles of our own 4-Way Test which covers it all. And on your way this week, speak a word of love to your Jewish brothers and sisters.