Remembering The Holocaust

On Shabbat Shirah: What an odd combination. January 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, falls on Shabbat Shirah this year.

Shabbat Shirah ("Sabbath [of] Song" שבת שירה) is the name given to the Shabbat that includes Parsha Beshalach. The Torah reading of the week contains the Song of the Sea (Exodus 15:1–18). This was the song by the Children of Israel after the Passage of the Red Sea.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorates the genocide that resulted in the death of an estimated 6,000,000 Jewish people, 200,000 Romani people, 250,000 mentally and physically disabled people, and 9,000 homosexual men by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. It was designated by the United Nations General Assembly on 1 November 2005.

It's hard to put all of these emotions together. Here to help us is Janis Ian, singing her song Tattoo.

Shabbat Shalom to All ...........