Today is the day that Jews, and their allies and friends throughout the world, remember those who died during the Nazi Holocaust. It is a day for remembering the 6 million Jews who died, purely for being Jewish, and a time for declaring ‘Never Again’.

As well as a day for grieving for the lives cut short so horribly, and the children they might have had, and the good they might have done; it is also a day for celebrating all those who survived the Nazis’ attempt at industrial scale genocide, often against appalling odds.

It is also a day to re-dedicate ourselves to the cause of making sure that never again will the Jewish people be left undefended or abandoned without a refuge in the face of threat. Never again should we pass by on the other side when threats arise, or dismiss the warnings and the testimonies of those who say ‘look, here is a problem’. Most of all, we should never again be so naïve as to think that ‘this sort of evil cannot happen here’. Some of the integrated German Jewish citizens could not believe that the Nazis meant THEM when they spewed their anti-Semitic rhetoric, because many German Jews fought bravely and with distinction for the Kaiser, but now we can look back and see how foolish and dangerous such attitudes were.

Before the Shoah, there were many people who warned about what was happening in Germany and all too often such warnings were disregarded or ignored by people who thought ‘the Nazis don’t really mean us’ or ‘it won’t be so bad’. Now we need to remember that when someone brings a message saying that there is a problem, we should investigate it properly and not ignore it or disbelieve it. We should also make sure that the next time someone says ‘I want to kill you’ then it would be better to believe them and act accordingly, than not believe them.

At a time when we remember so many deaths, so many precious lives lost, we should also remember to ‘choose life so that you may live’. There can be no greater indication of the triumph of life over death than the existence of the State of Israel and its armed forces, epitomised by the following video that shows the Israeli Air Force remembering the Shoah by means of a flypast over the remains of the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz.

Just under 70 years since the end of the worst disaster to befall the Jewish people in modern times, to see a Jewish Air Force defending a free people in a free land impresses on people that as well as having faith in G-d; in order to survive the multitude of threats against the Jewish people, there is also the need for effective methods of self-defence in the here and now.

Truly ‘the Guardian of the people Israel does not sleep’ even though it may seem that way to those on the receiving end of oppression. People ask ‘where was G-d in the Holocaust?’ and some answer that G-d was in the camps, suffering with those suffering and supporting those working even there to make better the lives of their fellow prisoners. Free will allows the options of choosing evil and death, the price of freedom is eternal vigilance against oppression.

Remember the dead and celebrate the living.

NEVER AGAIN.

Video of the flypast by the IAF over the death camp.

Not every European Jew during the days of the Shoah went gently or quietly into that good night, some fought back and many died in order to oppose the Nazi regime. Many of the inhabitants of the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw, Poland took up arms against their oppressors and tried to fight back against those who would wish to kill them. The film ‘Uprising’ tells the story of how these brave men and women, armed with nothing more than light weapons and petrol bombs, and an unbreakable spirit and determination, attempted to turn back the tide of murderous Nazi hatred.

Psalm 23

A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul; He guideth me in straight paths for His name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; Thou hast anointed my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.