Many had no family who survived to remember them. Millions were burnt and massacred, their date of death not known, nor do they have a burial place. In addition to observing a fast day and lighting memorial candles, Jews were encouraged to recite a “collective national Kaddish” in memory of those who perished. The name they gave this day was not Yom Hashoah, rather Yom Ha’Kaddish Ha’Klali L’Zekher Korbanot Hashoah – The National Day of Kaddish for the Victims of the Holocaust. Rather than creating a new date on the Jewish calendar, the Chief Rabbis took a long existing fast day connected to a tragedy and decided to infuse it with new meaning. When searching for a date to mark as a day of mourning and remembrance for the Holocaust, the two Chief Rabbis chose the Fast of the 10 th of Tevet, which was the least observed of the four traditional fast days connected to the destruction of Jerusalem (the 3 others being the 17 thof Tammuz, the 9 th of Av and the Fast of Gedaliah).įor over 2000 years, the 10 th Day of Tevet has been one of the fast days on the Jewish calendar connected to the siege on Jerusalem, which ultimately led to the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.

The Hebrew date that the two Chief Rabbis chose was today’s date on the Hebrew calendar – Asarah B’Tevet – The 10 thDay of Tevet.įor over 2000 years, the 10 th Day of Tevet has been one of the fast days on the Jewish calendar connected to the siege on Jerusalem, which ultimately led to the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.

While many will immediately think of Yom Hashoah, that more famous day was declared by the Israeli Knesset only in 1951. On December 14, 1948, seven months to the day after Israel’s formal Declaration of Independence, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel – under the leadership of Rabbi Benzion Meir Hai Uziel and Rabbi Isaac Halevi Herzog – convened a special meeting and declared Israel’s first ever Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Holocaust remembrance day 2021 israel