What is between Holocaust, heroism and independence?

• Published date: 29 April 2022
• Publication title: Israel National News (Israel)

Perhaps, also, in addition to the mourning is the devastating feeling that the Jews were led to slaughter without resistance. Certainly, some of the people in the early years of the State, were a little embarrassed when their minds compared the wandering Jew to the ones who have returned to their Land, have a government, and an army to be proud of

This might have been the impetus to add on the the name of the day, the G'vura - strength, courage, heroism, of those, such as the fighters in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising... That was the main reason for choosing the date of 27 Nissan.

Two more points:

There is another form of G'VURA - a spiritual one. Rabbi Ephraim Oshry z"l was a young rabbi in the Kovno ghetto. He survived and has written about the many hard and unique halachic questions and issues he dealt with. His work is several volumes long and has been condensed into a single English volume called: Responsa from the Holocaust.

In a secret minyan in the ghetto, the Shaliach Tzibur broke down crying and refused to say the bracha of SHELO ASANI EVED, thanking G-d for our not being slaves. Rabbi Oshri assured him and all the other daveners that...