Robert S. Feinberg, Chaplain Corps, USN Beginning in 1965, the State of Israel initiated observance of Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, during the week following the celebration of Passover and preceding the Anniversary of the birth of the Jewish State. Many Israelis believed that it was more important to look to the future of building a nation than to look back on the past, reopening wounds and raising unanswerable questions. But remembering the Six Million became a national priority.
Remembrance conveys a measure of immortality.
If we do not remember them, it is as though the victims of the Nazis died a second time. Nor is it for the sake of the Six Million alone that we must remember. This evil, this wickedness, began in a few people's hearts. It spread until it almost wrecked the world. Now the obligation is to remember, not in hate, in the spirit of revenge, but so that this spirit cannot ever flourish again, so long as people live on earth.