Yom HaShoah 5773

As Yom HaShoah 5773 begins, I think about my beloved maternal grandparents z”l, who were both Holocaust survivors.

My Bobi a”h - whose yahrzeit we will commemorate next week IY”H – was one of the strongest people I knew and loved Israel and her family.

My Zaidy a”h - a gifted talmid of Rav Elchanan Wasserman Hy”d in the Ohel Torah Yeshiva in Baranovitch and then Rav Aharon Kotler zt”l in the Kletzk Yeshiva – wrote an incredible letter to our family just before he died.

Zaidy z”l (standing, in the hat) - who earned an engineering degree from the University of Moscow during the war – teaches other survivors in the DP camp in Frankfurt in 1946.

I know that both Bobi and Zaidy a”h would be so proud that their eldest great-grandson yblt”a is now an IDF soldier.

May their memories be blessed, and may they continue to be melitzei yosher for all of us.

In this moving video, Rav Yisrael Meir Lau - Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv and former Chief Rabbi of Israel – meets a fellow survivor from Buchenwald.

אֵל מָלֵא רַחֲמִים שׁוֹכֵן בַּמְרוֹמִים, הַמְצֵא מְנוּחָה נְכוֹנָה תַחַת כַּנְפֵי הַשְּׁכִינָה, בְּמַעֲלוֹת קְדוֹשִׁים וּטְהוֹרִים כְּזֹהַר הָרָקִיעַ מְאִירִים וּמַזְהִירִים, לְנִשְׁמוֹת אַחֵינוּ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל הַקְּדוֹשִׁים וְהַטְּהוֹרִים שֶׁנָּפְלוּ בִּידֵי הָרוֹצְחִים וְנִשְׁפַּךְ דָּמָם, בְּאַווּשְׁוִיץ, מַיְידַנֶק, טְרֶבְּלִינְקָה, וּבִשְׁאָר מַחֲנוֹת הַשְּׁמָד בְּאֵירוֹפָּה. שֶׁנֶּהֶרְגוּ וְנִשְׂרְפוּ וְנִשְׁחֲטוּ וְנִקְבְּרוּ חַיִּים, בְּכֹל מִיתוֹת מְשֻׁנּוֹת וְאַכְזָרִיוֹת, עַל קְדֻשַּׁת הַשֵּׁם… בְּגַן עֵדֶן תְּהֵא מְנוּחָתָם.
לָכֵן בַּעַל הָרַחֲמִים, יַסְתִּירֵם בְּסֵתֶר כְּנָפָיו לְעוֹלָמִים וְיִצְרֹר בִּצְרוֹר הַחַיִּים אֶת נִשְׁמָתָם.
ה' הוּא נַחֲלָתָם וְיָנוּחוּ בְשָׁלוֹם עַל מִשְׁכָּבָם, וְנֹאמַר אָמֵן.

(From the special Kel Malei prayer recited on Yom HaShoah)