I wake up today, determined to be definitive –pen in hand, I will remember. I will not allow others to forget. For you who read this –I will serve as your reminder. It happened. It did. This did happen. Not only did it happen –it was planned. It was planned and it occurred. Occurred seems more appropriate than happened, it was planned, it did not just happen. It was planned. It did occur. The Holocaust occurred.
Six million Jews were murdered, brutally murdered by the Nazis…Five million ‘others’ were similarly murdered. Over eleven million people –people were purposely and purposefully killed…The plan that brought the Holocaust was a plan to destroy the Jews as a people. It was a plan to destroy the Jews and wipe us off the earth, much the same way the Iranian Prime Minister would wipe Israel from the map.
Last night, in my synagogue we read from the Holocaust Chapters, a newer addition to our other older traditions, dedicated to remembering and preserving our history. We read, we honored, we remembered, we cried and we prayed.
Today, at 10 AM, the siren will ring for a full two minutes. I am calm with the knowledge that in every household, every school, every building on every street people will stop whatever they are doing and stand in silence as the siren sounds to remind us, to remember. Cars, buses and trucks will stop on the roads and highways, passengers will open their doors and stand in the road, on the highway. All will stop and we will all remember.
We will remember. Each and every person murdered by the Nazis had a name, a mother, a father, and a life. Each and every person, our martyrs and our heroes are remembered today. We will remember those of us who were murdered in body and those who were murdered in soul. We will remember the survivors, those who walk among us and lived to tell and those who did not.
Israel fought and won the most important of battles –the battle of survival and a thriving life. Millions were taken – sacrificial lambs, brutally slaughtered. Many went to battle – and taken in their fight. Israel stands. Israel lives. Israel breathes. Israel is strong. We are a nation of heroes, a nation of survivors. We will not forget. We will not give credence to those who would deny our existence. We all know. This land is ours. This land was given to us –the spoils of war, the blood of many lives and countless lifetimes that have been erased from mother earth’s soil everywhere else –but, here. Here - those lives and lifetimes continue. We are here and here we will remain a testimonial to the lives taken and lost.
We will remain with strength. We will remain with righteousness. We will remain with humanity. We will remain honoring those who gave their lives willingly in war and those whose lives were taken with brutality. We will remain collectively connected to our past, our history. We will remain collectively connected to our future, the future of our children, our people, and our land.

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