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Chairman of the Rabbis of Germany at a gathering in Strasbourg: "Have we done enough so that we can live here as Jews?" - Voila! Judaism

2023-01-24T16:26:39.573Z


The European Commission marked International Holocaust Day with the participation of representatives of the 47 member states of the Commission, ambassadors and observers from other countries


78 years after the liberation of the Auschwitz camp, today (Tuesday) the European Commission marked International Holocaust Day.

At the Gilead commemoration of the victims at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, speeches were made by the Council's Secretary General Maria Bachenowitz Borich and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany Anlena Bierbach.

The ceremony was attended by the representatives of the 47 member states of the European Commission, ambassadors and observers from other countries led by the Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Tiny Cox and the President of the Council of Ministers of the Council Ragnil Durarenlothdottir alongside representatives from the Jewish world led by the Rabbi of Strasbourg Rabbi Avraham Weil. The ceremony concluded with a minute's silence in memory of the victims of the Holocaust and laying Foreigners The Chairman of the Rabbis of Germany and Vice President of the European Rabbinical Conference Rabbi of Frankfurt Rabbi Avichai Appel was invited to speak at the ceremony.

It should be noted that this is the first time that the head of a Jewish organization has been invited to speak before the Commission on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The European Commission marks International Holocaust Day (Photo: Eli Itkin)

Rabbi Appel opened his words: "On International Holocaust Day, I stand before you as a rabbi in Israel, an ancient Jew of 3300 years, since we became a nation. At the foot of Mount Sinai we received the Torah - the Book of Laws that goes with us like a torch that illuminates the way throughout history. Our sages asked, "And why is it called by its name?" Chinese?

- that from there hatred descended to the world.

From that moment on, poisonous anti-Semitism erupted, and the great question that never ceases to resonate and point a finger at the conscience of the enlightened world like the finger of an angry prosecutor, is: Why?

Why?

pourquoi?

Why?

pochemu?

Why?

After all, we are a people who brought into the world the most noble and humanistic values ​​of human brotherhood, social values ​​such as the weekly day of rest, love of the foreigner and immigrant, concern for the worker and the fairness of trade, and all of these serve as amplifiers for the terrible and bloody question: Why?".



"I did not come here to give an answer, because there is none. I stand before you knowing that there are issues that cannot be discussed in the "Philosophy Department", because they belong to the "Psychology Department". Is it possible to have a reasonable discussion about anti-Semitism? No! The famous French philosopher has already said Jean-Paul Sartre, because anti-Semitism belongs to the department of situations and not to the department of opinions, and with a situation it is impossible to have a discussion! Anti-Semitism exists like day and night, ebb and flow, a reality! A fact! And one for how long we are witnessing an anti-Semitic outbreak that registers a tide in many corners of the globe, without A reason and without guilt. Sometimes the excuses try to be reasoned, and still they are absurd. And the screaming question "Why?".



"I am standing here in the European Commission, whose foundation is to guarantee: no more! But 'no more' does not mean that millions of Jews will not be sent to the furnaces of fire. The question we need to ask ourselves, especially here in this important institution, is we doing enough so that we can live here as Jews? Is everything a thing of the past, and we, as loyal citizens, can live here according to our faith, eat meat slaughtered according to the Jewish law, face our children, or does freedom of religion here not belong to human rights?"

Gratitude in the Jewish world.

The lighting of a candle in memory of the martyrs of the Holocaust was done and heard.

German Zakharev (photo: Eli Itkin)

Rabbi Apel told the audience the story of Dov Shilansky, who served as the speaker of the Knesset - the Israeli parliament. He was born in Shavel, Lithuania. He went through the communist rule and the extermination camps. He held a series of public and parliamentary positions and spoke five languages: Hebrew, English, German, Yiddish and Lithuanian. He initiated a project to commemorate the Holocaust "Each person has a place", but the severe discrimination from his childhood was burned into his memory, when Jews were not allowed to walk on the sidewalks, only on the road with the horses.



"In a poignant journalist interview, he told how the Speaker of the Israeli Parliament came to visit Vilnius, and how his lungs were filled with pride that he could walk on the sidewalk!

There was silence on the march, which was broken when he turned to his high-ranking Lithuanian companions with a story that marked a question mark at the end: one of the members of the Jewish community was "Yankael der Blinder" - the blind Jacob.

He loved children and gave them candy.

He never distinguished between a Jewish child and another child.

He didn't see, he gave everyone candy.

He loved everyone, and the voice of a happy child, a son of any religion, always moved him.

"My dear hosts," Shilensky said then.

"I try to understand everything, but one thing I will never understand: why did you kill Yankel der Blinder"?

Why?".



"International Holocaust Remembrance Day - said Rabbi Apel - is not just an event on a calendar. It is an alarm clock, a warning sign and a road sign. The Jewish people, according to the instructions of their great rabbis and in the legislation of the Israeli Knesset, cherish you, and they mark it on the Jewish calendar, all over the world, and also at home This, with the participation of the top officials of the countries, the 'Liberation and Rescue Day', the Hebrew date for Victory Day over the Nazis, initiated and operated by Governor Dr. German Zakharev.

This day raises a memory of thanks to the one who saved us - the creator of the world, along with a public acknowledgment of gratitude to his messengers - the soldiers of the allies and the followers of the nations of the world who sacrificed their lives in the war against evil and darkness, for the freedom of their people and the salvation of our people.

We are one K-L, and as those who ask every day in our prayers for forgiveness from the Creator of the world for our actions, we know the secret of forgiveness for human beings.

We remember what cannot be forgotten, but... forgive and reach out to build a better, more beautiful world, in which there is love for every person created in the image."

The European Commission marks International Holocaust Day (Photo: Eli Itkin)

The European Commission marks International Holocaust Day (Photo: Eli Itkin)

Rav Apel dedicated the end of his remarks to the subject of anti-Semitism that we experience today;

"On the holiday of the Jewish people's freedom we remind: "that in every generation our brides have stood up for us". It is impossible not to mention in such an important occasion, the enemy on duty from the east, Iran!!! This is no secret, everything is said there openly and defiantly: the rule of the Ayatollahs in Tehran, wants To cause another holocaust. Why? This does not belong to the department of opinions but to the department of situations. This is a fact! Therefore, the entire globe and its inhabitants, all the people of conscience and morality who make sure that the seed of hatred does not re-sprout and take root, have the moral duty to thwart any possibility of an Iranian nuclear program.



"On the last Hanukkah holiday, the French rabbis' gathering was hosted by the embassy of a country with a Shia-Muslim population that is a member here of the European Commission - Azerbaijan. This country, where the Jews have received warm and embracing treatment for centuries, stands on the front line against Iran and maintains a neighborly brotherhood of nations between its Azeri and Jewish citizens And anti-Semitism is absent from among its citizens. Unfortunately, the Muslim country that opened its heart to the Jews and even established an embassy in Israel, does not receive the proper support from the countries of the European Union, and on the contrary, how amazing and surprising, the French senator called for an embargo on the purchase of gas and oil from this important country, which takes A security-conscientious-moral position, and guarding the borders of Europe. "Why"?

The European Commission marks International Holocaust Day (Photo: Eli Itkin)

The European Commission marks International Holocaust Day (Photo: Eli Itkin)

Rabbi Apel ended his words with great excitement: "I, Rabbi Avichai Apel from Frankfurt, am a proud son of the Jewish people who have tasted the full human bitterness of history and paid the full price for it. As a representative of this people I call on you from here and today: let us be partners, so that they will not charge us An additional payment and so that no other people will pay such a price in the future! Together we will continue to apply the lessons of "Holocaust Day" until a wolf is sent forth with a lamb and a tiger with a goat will lie down - as a vision of the end of days, and making peace in his highness he will make peace for us, for all of us - and the Great Heaven will be increased and sanctified! ".

David Berger, submitted on behalf of Shuba Israel

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Source: walla

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