B"H
Thursday, Nissan 27, 5776 / May 5, 2016 – HAKHEL YEAR
Shalom. I hope you had a most meaningful and joyous Pesach holiday. We spent Pesach in N.Y. with my father (who just turned 100, B”H) and my mother; our children, grandchildren and great granddaughter, B”H. It was indeed a wonderful Chag Sameach.
May we merit to the fulfillment of our two thousand year old wish of, “L’shana Habah B’yerushalayim” – “Next year in Jerusalem.”
By proclaiming, “Next year in Jerusalem,” we mean, Jerusalemwith the Holy Temple rebuilt. Jerusalem is not the same without the Holy Temple. Jerusalem is a beautiful and holy city, but it is not complete without the Temple. May it indeed be re-built very soon, with the coming of Moshiach. Amen.
Today, the 27th of Nissan, has been proclaimed as “Yom Hashoah” – “Holocaust Remembrance Day.” Today, we remember the 6,000,000 Jews who were brutally murdered by the Germans and their collaborators throughout Europe only 75 years ago.
Here are statistics of the percentage of the Jewish population murdered in the following countries:
POLAND- 91%; USSR - 36%; HUNGARY - 74%; GERMANY - 36%; FRANCE - 22%;
ROMANIA- 84%; AUSTRIA - 35%; LITHUANIA - 85%; NETHERLANDS - 71%; MORAVIA - 60%;
LATVIA- 84%; SLOVAKIA - 80%; YUGOSLAVIA - 81%; GREECE - 87%; BELGIUM - 45%;
ITALY- 17%; ESTONIA - 44%; LUXEMBOURG - 55%; NORWAY - 45% ….
“Who is like Your people, like Israel, the one nation on earth,” we say in our prayers. Even in the midst of this great turbulent destruction and upside down world for the Jewish people, it is remarkable how they made every effort to celebrate the Holiday of Freedom - the holiday of Pesach. Why? Because no one can take from us our spiritual inner freedom… The very fact that we were “we” and not “they”.. We were indeed free.. while “they” were enslaved to their beastly and murderous desires…
Here is an excerpt from the testimony of a Warsaw Ghetto survivor about the last Pesach in the Ghetto: “In April the Ghetto was rife with rumors of an upcoming deportation. Despite this, the Jews of the Ghetto continued with their preparations for Passover. Some even baked matzot, obtained wine, and koshered their dishes in preparation for the holiday…”
Another survivor describes what took place in Rabbi Eliezer Meisel's apartment, in the Ghetto, on Passover eve, the 19th of April 1943, when the Germans entered the Ghetto: “Amidst this destruction, the table in the center of the room looked incongruous with glasses filled with wine, with the family seated around, the rabbi reading the Haggadah. His reading was punctuated by explosions and the rattling of machine-guns; the faces of the family around the table were lit by the red light from the burning buildings nearby…” Indeed, “Who is like Your people, like Israel, the one nation on earth.”
HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY