Yom haShoah Ve'Hagvura or Yom HaShoah (יום השואה yom ha-sho’āh, יום הזיכרון לשואה ולגבורה-Yom ha-zikaron la-Shoah Ve'Lagvura), or "The Remembrance day of The Holocaust and the Heroism", takes place on the 27th day of Nisan, in the Hebrew calendar. It is held every year in remembrance of the approximately six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. It is a national holiday in Israel.
It was originally proposed to be on the 15th of Nisan, the anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising (April 19, 1943), but this was objected to as being the first day of Passover. Instead, the 27th was chosen, being eight days before Yom Ha'atzma'ut, or Israeli Independence Day. Yom HaShoah was established by Israeli law in 1959, and was signed by David Ben-Gurion and Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, then Prime Minister of Israel and President of Israel, respectively.
Anti-Zionism religious Jews do not attribute any significance to this day and continue their daily lives. They remember the victims of the Holocaust on other days, which were already days of mourning before the Holocaust, such as Tisha b'Av. However, most of the rest of the Jewish community considers the holiday as a Jewish religious holiday. Orthodox rabbi Avraham (Avi) Weiss created a ritual for the holiday. The Masorti (Conservative Judaism) movement in Israel has created Megilat HaShoah, a scroll and liturgical reading for Yom HaShoah. It is a joint project of Jewish leaders in Israel, the United States and Canada. It was written by Hebrew University professor Avigdor Shinan. In 1984, Conservative rabbi David Golinkin wrote an article in Conservative Judaism journal suggesting a program of observance for the holiday, including fasting. Ismar Schorsch, former Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary suggested, however, that Holocaust commemoration take place on the Jewish holiday of Tisha b'Av. In 1988, the Reform Judaism movement published a book called Six Days of Destruction, co-authored by Elie Wiesel and Rabbi Albert Friedlander.
Jews in the Diaspora observe Yom Hashoah within the synagogue as well as in the broader Jewish community. Commemorations range from synagogue services to communal vigils and educational programs. Many Yom Hashoah programs feature a talk by a Holocaust survivor, recitation of appropriate songs and readings, or viewing of a Holocaust-themed film. Some communities choose to emphasize the depth of loss that Jews experienced in the Holocaust by reading the names of Holocaust victims one after another — dramatizing the unfathomable notion of six million deaths. Many Jewish schools also hold Holocaust-related educational programs on or near Yom Hashoah.
At 10:00am on Yom HaShoah, air-raid sirens sound for two minutes throughout Israel. Public transport (including virtually all highway vehicles) comes to a standstill for this period, and people stop and stand silent. During Yom HaShoah, much public entertainment and many public establishments in Israel are closed by law. Israeli television and radio channels transmit mourning songs and documentaries about the Holocaust, and no commercials. All flags on public buildings are flown at half mast.
Also during this day, tens of thousands of Israeli high-school students, and thousands of Jews from around the world, hold a memorial service in Auschwitz, in what became known as "The March of the Living", in defiance of the Holocaust Death Marches. This event is endorsed and subsidized by the Israeli Ministry of Education, and is considered an important part of the academic studies--a culmination of several months of studies on World War II and the Holocaust.
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