Remembering

My post today is twofold because I couldn’t wait another week for either of my subjects. They tie in together because of that: they’re time-bound.

Daniel Ullrich, Threedots, Wikimedia Commons

For the past few years, I have found it extremely meaningful to observe Yom HaShoah (“Day of the Catastrophe,” the shortened Hebrew name for Holocaust Remembrance Day) because it is so important to stand with the Jewish people, God’s special nation, and repudiate what Hitler and his minions did, as well as what God’s enemies are trying to do today. This year it occurs on Thursday, April 16 (Hebrew dates, on the lunar calendar, jump around on the Gregorian calendar). It seems especially momentous this year, because 2015 marks the seventieth anniversary of the end of World War Two and the liberation of all the Nazi concentration camps. On January 27 of 1945, as the Allies were defeating the Axis, Auschwitz was set free. Auschwitz Day (January 27 every year) is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and Auschwitz is probably the most well known location connected to the five-year-long atrocity against Nazi prisoners. So this year’s remembrance days are doubly significant.

What can we do on Holocaust Remembrance Day this Thursday? Even remembering that it’s a special day will do the trick. In bigger towns and cities, there might be a memorial service to attend at a synagogue or museum. Watching a good movie or documentary and reading about the Holocaust would be worthwhile. Informing friends, maybe getting a conversation going about stories they’ve heard or have in their families, would further enrich the day. By remembering in these ways we do what we can to counteract Hitler’s crime.

Yom HaShoah comes eight days before Israel’s Independence Day. Even if this isn’t entirely what the authorities had in mind (Wikipedia said something about the original date being planned for the Hebrew day of Nisan 14, the anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising, but since this is also right at Passover-time every year, they decided it would not be suitable) I see the timing as very appropriate, because spring represents renewal. The Holocaust is horrific, but it’s inextricably linked to Israel’s becoming an independent state on May 14, 1948, an extraordinary resurrection of sorts after the Jewish people had been exiled from their land since 70 A.D.

Spring, then, is a special time of year, between remembering our Savior’s death and resurrection that brought us salvation, and Israel’s partial (in the physical) renewal.

To close, I wanted to share some nature pictures I took around our neighborhood ... a change of subject, but I thought they'd be nice anyway!

Mexican Buckeye

Redbud

Bluebonnets

Bluebonnets

Pyrocanthus

Happy Spring!