Monday, April 8, 2013

Yad Vashem, meaning

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The siren blared at 10:00 this morning, and everything and everyone in Israel stopped and stood silently for two minutes.
Yad Vashem, the Knesset, schools, and TV all had heart-wrenching ceremonies, speeches, and testimonies for Yom HaShoah, the day of remembering the Holocaust victims, heroes, and survivors.
UPDATE:  See a video of the siren and streets.


Did you ever wonder where Israel's Holocaust memorial's name comes from?
I noticed this sign for a little 1928 synagogue in Nachlaot neighborhood of Jerusalem some years ago, and it was an Aha! moment.
It  quotes "Vanatati lahem beveiti uvchomotai  yad  vashem."

So, I found the verse comes from Isaiah 56:5, where God says
I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument [yad] and a name [va-shem], a monument and a name better than sons and daughters;  I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.

Everyone should spend some time at Yad Vashem.

The little synagogue with the marble sign is for the Jews of Yanina.
Wiki helped me with this one:
"According to oral folklore Jewish communities inhabited the site of the modern [Greek] city of Ioannina [or Yanina] as early as 70 C.E.
. . .  There was a Romaniote Jewish community living in Ioannina before World War II. The Nazis deported the majority of them (1,860) to concentration camps during the final months of German occupation in 1944.
Almost all of the people deported were murdered on or shortly after 11 April 1944, when the train carrying them reached Auschwitz-Birkenau."
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(Linking to Signs, Signs meme.)
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11 comments:

  1. Thank you Dina, I'm sure that that two minute siren sound was very moving. May we always remember those who perished.

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  2. May the memory of the dead forever be a blessing. And may we never forget.

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  3. No, I either didn't ever know the Isaiah verse or I had forgotten it totally. Good on you for finding it!

    By the way, why does yad mean monument in this instance?

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  4. Oh Dina... This is such a terrible, tragic, horrible time in human history. If only we could have learned from it so that such horror would never happen again.

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  5. The two minutes'siren-blaring was also to be seen and heard in our news on TV. It was very impressive.
    Thank you for this post and the explanation of the words Yad Vashem.In May we will commemorate the victims of the nazis. In August we will do the same for the victims of the Japanese camps and those who "perished on the seas". So much for M of memories!!

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  6. Thank you for making us remember it too...

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  7. Beautiful words from God. I will try to visit that place next time..
    Very moving all this

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  8. Hi Dina! I forgot to say that I also enjoyed seeing Israel together with you! Thanks for all you did for me!

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  9. I have been there, it was an unforgettable visit.

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  10. oh my goodness....such a tragedy this was...

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  11. As the years march on, and the people who were alive the time move on to another life, it is heartwarming to see so many respecting the memory.

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