Yom HaShoah in Israel, 2021

 (Last update: April 9, 2021)

In Israel, today is called, Yom HaShoah, which, loosely translated, means 'The Day to remember the Holocaust". For Israel, this is time to recall that Israel, the world's only Jewish State, exists for two reasons. First, because the G-d of Israel wants it to exist; and second, to be the safe haven for the world's Jews.

Back in the 1930's, when the roots of the Holocaust were just taking hold in Germany and in what we now call Eastern Europe, there was no State of Israel. The was no "Jewish State". There was no "safe Haven" for Jews. 

To illustrate how unsafe the world really was at that time, recall the story of a ship called, the "Saint Louis". I will tell you this story as I heard it. Perhaps you have heard a different version.

In 1939, at a time when news of Germany's ill-treatment of Jews was reaching foreign lands, Hitler engaged in what some might call a "stunt". He would show up as hypocrites all who would criticize his treatment of Jews. He would call their bluff. 

He loaded some 900+ Jews on a cruising liner, the "Saint Louis". The "Saint Louis" then set sail to find countries that would accept these "Jew refugees". 

The ship stopped mostly in the North America area. Authorites in Cuba, the US and Canada all refused to allow Jews to disembark from the ship. 

One perhaps untrue part of this story is an  alleged quote from the then-Prime Minister of Canada's reaction to allowing Jewish refugees into Canada. He is supposed to have said, 'one Jew is one Jew too many'. 

Whether true or not, it was a sentiment that was felt by many across the globe at that time. At any rate, Canada did not accept anyone from that ship.

Ultimately, the ship returned to Europe. There, some were able to get off. Some were able to go to the UK. A few others were able to get into France, Belgium--and into one or two other European countries. The remainder were returned to Germany.

Not all of those who disembarked into Europe at that time remained safe. By the end of the war, perhaps as many as 270 (estimates vary) of those 900+ souls who had been returned to Europe perished in the Holocaust that later engulfed them.

If this story as I have told it is true, Hitler got satisfaction. He had showed the nations what hypocrites they were. 

Hitler was not the only one who rejected Jews. The world was clearly full of such hate. 

Some called that voyage, the "Voyage of the Damned'. It was.

That story happened because there was no sovereign State of Israel in 1939. There was no safe haven for Jews. There was no one who would accept "Jew refugees".

Some of us remember this ship's story today, on a Holocaust Day more than 80 years on. We remember it because there are still those in the world who would be happy once again to kill Jews. 

You see, once again, Jew-hate proliferates around the world. Like a poisonous weed, Jew-hate spreads without much resistance. 

As we in Israel remember Holocaust Day, we know Israel is alone. We know we are hated by many. 

But we also know Israel is strong. We know Israel is not a country easy to invade. Any such attempt  by others will reap the whirlwind.

Israel is the only safe haven for Jews. In this world, Israel is the only safe place for the Jewish people.

Israel will never forget the Holocaust. Israel will never forget what happened between 1939-45. Israel will never forget the Jew-hate. 

We will never let it happen again.