Yad Vashem, Tzohar, "Zikaron BaSalon" and "Our Six Million" ("Shem Vener") invite you to take part in a tradition of remembrance on the eve of Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day.
Let us join together with family, friends or neighbors - at home, at a "Zikaron baSalon" gathering, or at another community event. We will light six candles – either candles from "Our Six Million" ("Shem Vener"), or any candles, recite Abba Kovner's poem, "Nizkor" or the traditional "El Maleh Rahamim", as we identify with the victims of the Holocaust.
Together, we will create a new tradition of Holocaust remembrance to be passed on from generation to generation. Photograph your gathering and share it on your social media using the hashtag #GenerationsLightTheWay.
Let us remember our brothers and our sisters
The homes in the cities and houses in the villages
The streets of the town that bustled like rivers
And the inn standing solitary on the way.
The old man with his etched-out features
The mother in her shawl
The girl with her braids
The children.
The thousands of Jewish communities
Peopled with their families
The entire congregation of Jews
That was brought to the slaughter upon the soil of Europe
By the German executioner.
The man who screamed out suddenly
And died screaming.
The woman who clutched a baby to her breast
Arms tumbling down.
The baby whose fingers groped for her mother's nipple
That was blue and cold.
The legs, the legs that sought refuge
And there was no escape.
And they who clenched their hands into fists
The fists that gripped iron
The iron that was the weapon of the vision, the despair and the revolt.
And those with staunch hearts
And those with open eyes
And those who cast away their souls
Without being able to offer salvation.
We shall remember the day
The day in its noon
The sun that rose over the stake of blood
The skies that stood high and silent.
We shall remember the mounds of ash
Beneath flowering gardens.
The living shall remember their dead
For behold they are here before us.
Behold as their eyes stare around and about,
So let us not be silent
Until our lives are worthy of their memory.
Merciful God, who dwells on high, judge of widows and father of orphans
Grant proper rest on the wings of the Divine Presence
On the pinnacles of the holy and the pure, who shine like the radiance of the firmament,
To the souls of our six million brothers and sisters
The myriads of Israel, men, women and children.
Who were killed, suffocated, burned, buried alive
And who were put to death in all kinds of strange and cruel ways
At the hands of the German Nazis and their collaborators
And who passed from this world for the sanctification of God
In Heaven shall they rest
Therefore the All Merciful will shelter them forever in the safety of His wings
And will bind their immortal souls eternally, the Lord is their inheritance.
May they rest in peace, and let us say, Amen.
