Every year the Ninth of Av ( this year on Sunday) raises the issue of the Holocaust. We commemorate the destruction of two Jewish states, of two Jewish temples , of Jerusalem twice, and the Ninth of Av is the only fast after Yom Kippur that starts the evening before and runs through for 25 hours. It represents the two greatest catastrophes that befell the Jewish people. And the ramifications had a profound impact on Jewish life both religiously and socially. Yet the events took place thousands of years ago. The Talmudic rabbis of that era were divided between those who thought the cause was either failed morally or political insanity. It rings a bell now.
The Holocaust represented something new and quite unlike previous disasters. The brutality, inhumanity and the technology enabled killing far more even proportionately than any other previous destruction. Unlike the Babylonian and Roman tragedies when thousands were killed and sent into slavery. Neither of those sought to completely obliterate the Jewish people in the way that the Nazis did.
Isn’t it time to update?
Over the past two thousand years since, the Jewish people have suffered almost constantly both from Christianity and Islam who hoped we would convert and often forced us to abandon our own tradition. History buffs know that there were over 70 blood libel accusations that led to the deaths of Jews in Europe (and now perpetuated in parts of the Muslim world). Of course there were periods of release. As the famous historian Salo Baron pointed out, we should not allow ourselves to fall into the trap of thinking that everyone and everything was against us, the oiy vey version of Jewish history. Still Jews were always “the other.” And the more we stuck together and the more we succeeded the more we were disliked.
It was a fond hope to think that after the Holocaust the slogan “never again” would ensure the baseless hatred would cease. But unfortunately, politics that always puts ethics in the shade, has shattered that illusion. However much we might hope that Holocaust memorials and museums would achieve their educational aims it is now clear that this has not happened. Not that it means that they have no value, but the expectations of what they could achieve must be qualified . So how should we proceed?
Over the generations there have been lots of memorials of pogroms, in communities across the Jewish world. With their own very specific ceremonies and routines. Most of them now subsumed under the universal fast days. Those who follow the Orthodox Jewish liturgy will know that every time we recite the Yizkor prayers years we add a special prayer for our martyrs.
“May God remember the souls of the holy and pure ones who were killed, murdered, slaughtered, burned, drowned, and strangled sanctifying the Divine Name. May their souls be bound in the bond of eternal life together with the souls of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah.”
And some versions include specifically those who perished at the hands of the German oppressors.
However, there is no unanimity about how or when we should mark this catastrophe.In Israel there are different Holocaust memorial days. One established by the Chief Rabbinate, one ordained by the state, and there are those who consider the Ninth of Av be a Holocaust Memorial Day too. There are too many factions within the Jewish community for there being any chance of uniting them all these different ones into a single one or getting everybody to agree to merge with the 9th of Av. Each community in the end makes its own decisions.
There is another possibility and that is remembering the Holocaust through literature and art which of course does not need a specific day in the calendar. One might point to the writing of Elie Wiesel. Anne Frank was popular until her memory was hijacked. Menachem Rosensaft a human rights activist, a professor of law and a leader of the Second-Generation Movement of children of Holocaust survivors, has published a compilation of new psalms that adapt the earlier historical format to the modern experience. Burning Psalms: Confronting Adonai after Auschwitz, January 27, 2025. It should at least be an addition to the medieval dirges, the Kinot, we recite nowadays.
But to end on a different note. The Talmudic tractate Taanit has some wonderful narratives of disaster and hope. There is one I really like because it is so relevant.
“On one occasion the wicked empire, Rome, issued a decree forbidding Jews to study Torah, or circumcise their sons, and to desecrate Shabbat. Yehuda ben Shammua and his colleagues went and sought the advice of a certain Roman (not Jewish) matron who knew all the prominent people of Rome. She said to them: “Go and hafginu!” (which literally means to demonstrate publicly). They went and cried saying: Are we not children of one father? Are we not children of one mother? How are we different from any other nation and tongue that you single us out and issue against us evil decrees? Their cries were effective, and the authorities annulled the decrees, and they made that day a commemorative holiday” (Taanit 18a).
If only we spent less money and time arguing and demonstrating amongst ourselves and more on coming together as a nation, we might just be able to turn things around, as we did before. Sadly, as we see, at this moment there’s little chance of that. Much to fast about.
Jeremy Rosen
July 2025
