Yesterday was International Holocaust Remembrance Day, an annual event that commemorates the evil program of destruction by Nazi Germany which resulted in the deaths of approximately six million Jews. All through this week there have been events and interviews and articles which draw our attention to the largest act of genocide in human history which targeted a group of people based on religion and ethnicity.
We should all honour these lives lost in what many Jews and others refer to as the Shoah, the Calamity or Catastrophe, rather than the Holocaust, which means burnt offering. This is particularly important when recent surveys have discovered that the Shoah is not understood well by a large percentage of young people and not taught in many schools.
This year our remembrance is essential because of the hideous choice of some anti-vaxxers to wear a yellow star, the requirement for Jews in Europe in pre-war and WW2 days, to suggest that encouraging or requiring vaccination for a greater societal good is some sort of oppression akin to the Holocaust.
I have been in Israel during Yom HaShoah, the annual Holocaust Remembrance in April or May when the entire nation stops in silence for two minutes to remember those who perished. I have been to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem on several occasions and each time it was sobering. Perhaps most heart-wrenching part of the complex is the Childrens' Memorial which is described in this way:
This unique memorial, hollowed out from an underground cavern, is a tribute to the approximately 1.5 million Jewish children who were murdered during the Holocaust. Memorial candles, a customary Jewish tradition to remember the dead, are reflected infinitely in a dark and somber space, creating the impression of millions of stars shining in the firmament. The names of murdered children, their ages and countries of origin can be heard in the background.
How dare people trivialize this unimaginable act of hatred and human loss by their petulance and selfishness? Even is we are inclined to concede that we have differences of opinion regarding vaccination, wearing these stars and making these obscene comparisons is a hateful and anti-Jewish act.
Jesus, the Jew who is the Messiah, taught that we must not repay evil with evil and to turn the other cheek. I know in my heart of hearts that this is true. Still, I hope I never encounter anyone who espouses this nonsense, especially those who claim they are doing so as Christians. I'm not sure what my reaction would be, but I have a fair idea.
Yad Vashem Childrens' Memorial
No comments:
Post a Comment