Yom HaShoah: Remembering the Holocaust
A Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust and Heroism
On April 16 Jews and Christians came together in a service of readings, music, and prayer to remember the Holocaust and the heroism of victims and survivors. View the photo gallery here. Holocaust survivors, accompanied by students from the School of Theology and Ministry, lit candles of remembrance, sorrow, and hope. When Holocaust survivors and students walk hand in hand to the chancel to light a candle, our community makes the promise, “never again”.
Presented by the Temple De Hirsch Sinai, the School of Theology and Ministry at Seattle University and The Shemanski Institute for Christian and Jewish Understanding.
Date: April 16, 2009
Time: 7pm.
Hosted by Father Michael G. Ryan
St. James Cathedral
804 9th Ave, Seattle WA.
Cost: Free and open to the public.
St. James Cathedral graciously offered to host the annual Seattle area Yom HaShoah remembrance, an interfaith service which draws upon the best inclinations of many traditions. This annual event gives Christians the opportunity to acknowledge our past sins and to add some power to saying, “never again“! In response to a recent controversy over the views of a newly rehabilitated bishop, Pope Benedict XVI remarked:
“This should be clear to everyone. It is beyond question
that any denial or minimization of this terrible crime
is intolerable and altogether unacceptable.”
While Benedict was unequivocal in his denunciation of the views of a notorious holocaust denier, the fact that he took several days to respond created an opening for some vigorous debate, reminding us all of the horror of the coincidence of modern technology with murderous hate. Before the mid-20th century it was just not possible to commit murder on such a mass scale as in the Holocaust.
In the meantime, the debate has taken attention away from other attempted genocides. In Central Africa, in Darfur, in Bosnia, in Cambodia, mechanized killing has spread into the early 21st century. It is not only that killing massive numbers of non-combatants has come to be accepted as a normal cost of modern warfare. Even worse, genocide has become an all too common method of dealing with ethnic and cultural divides.
The annual remembrance of the Shoah is incomplete if it does not include the honest recognition that technologically advanced murder of “the other” is all too frequent in the modern world. To that end, we are asking this year that representatives of all of our participating ecclesial communities offer words of remembrance along with a clear statement that abhors genocide or ethnic cleansing.
When Holocaust survivors and students walk hand in hand to the chancel to light a candle of remembrance, sorrow and hope, our community makes the promise, “never again.”