Opening Ceremony of Shoah Memorial Day

This year, the opening ceremony was dedicated to Jewish solidarity during the Shoah, under the slogan: "My Brother's Keeper". Like every year, the civic, military and religious representatives of the state gathered in the square at Yad VaShem. After the lighting of the memorial torch by the Chairman of the Yad VaShem Council, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, the President, Mr. Shimon Peres, and the Prime Minister, Mr. Binyamin Netanyahu, spoke. This year, Lawyer Yosef Melamed spoke in the name of the survivors. The Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Yona Metzger, read psalms and the Rishon LeTsiyon, Rabbi Shlomo Amar, prayed Kaddish for the dead. Texts from the Shoah period were read by Israeli actor Moni Moshonov. Musical pieces in Hebrew and Yiddish accompanied the ceremony, which ended with the prayer "El Maleh Rahamim" (God full of mercy) and the singing of the national anthem "HaTikvah".

At the heart of the ceremony, six survivors, today all over 80 years old, lit the memorial torches for the six million Jews who died in the Shoah. Particularly moving, was the story of each one of them and this year, in addition to a description of their sufferings during the Shoah, was added a description of their social activities in society today.

It is interesting to note that one of the survivors, Mr. Elizer Lev Ziyon, described his activity as a young boy in the French underground, under the supervision of Father Alexandre Glasberg, a priest of Jewish origin, who was recognized as a Just among the Nations in 2004 because of his efforts to save children from the internment camp. (Read his story here)

The ceremony initiates a day of pain and memory and we join our voices to the prayers for the victims and the survivors and for a better world.