Note: Unfortunately the last few minutes of audio were not recorded. We ended by looking at a passage from Rabbi Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg, who himself had survived the horrors of the Holocaust, defending the establishment of Yom Hashoah. In a preface to one of his responsa, he provides a compelling argument for the observance of such a day:
“In my opinion it is proper to establish a special day of mourning and remembrance to remember the rabbis and holy Jews who were murdered, butchered, and burned in the sanctification of God’s Holy Name, and to remember on this day the souls of these martyrs. We must do so not just because of the honor due these martyrs alone, but because of future generations that they not forgot what our people lost when the evil, murderous darkness covered over Europe”
(Seridei Eish, new edition 1:31).
Download PDF