Culture, Global, Identity, Israel, Justice, Politics

April 24, Yom Hashoah V'hagevurah, and Sunday's Rally

Since last Thursday, my personal spiritual practice of omer counting has been, well – lazy. I went to my student pulpit in the Virgin Islands and took less and less time to sit and reflect as I counted. Yet, out of all the weeks, this one – week two – is the one in which we are supposed to focus on the characteristic of âáåøä which literally means strength, but is extended to include stringency, particularly in regards to justice and punishing the wicked. (Those of you who caught my dvar Torah last Friday know I have issues with this as well). In any case, just as I’ve been thinking about my lack of âáåøä in omer counting intentions, out pops three major coinciding important days:

  1. April 24, Armenian Genocide Day.
  2. 28 Nisan / April 24-25, Yom Hashoah V’hagevurah (the Memorial Day for the Holocaust and Heroism)
  3. The Save Darfur Rally this Sunday, April 30 in Washington, DC

There has been much space on the pages of Jewschool lately with information about #2 and #3, so I will just briefly add a few things I’ve come across:

May this week of âáåøä be one of reflection and hope, whether you are mourning past genocides or speaking out against modern day genocide, whether you connected these events to your Zionism, or you recall them at other times.

3 thoughts on “April 24, Yom Hashoah V'hagevurah, and Sunday's Rally

  1. The “dispute” about the Armenian genocide is the work of Turkish deniers and their allies in American academia, often funded by the Turkish government. The Turkish government publishes dozens of books every year denying that the murder of 1 million Armenians took place. It’s disgraceful. Unfortunately, for various reasons, even the State of Israel does not officially recognize that a genocide took place. Neither does the US. I think as Jews we should do everything we can to remedy this state of affairs.

  2. heres another one for you: April 25th in Australia and New Zealand is a national holiday commemorating the ANZAC’s – Australian and New Zealand Armed Corps who fought in Gallipoli, Turkey in World War I.

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