Yom HaShoah

Once again Yom Hashoah is coming up.

And, in general, we forget the full name of this day: Yom Hashoah Vehagvurah.

The translation of “shoah” is not simple. The term is taken from the verse of the prophet Isaiah (47:11) that says: “Therefore shall evil come upon you; you shall not know from where it rises; and mischief shall fall upon you; you shall not be able to put it off; and desolation [“shoah”] shall come upon you suddenly, which you shall not know.”

This “shoah,” this “desolation,” refers to a phenomenon that razes, like a kind of hurricane that leaves nothing standing in its wake.

But this day is also the day of “Gvurah,” that is to say of “heroism.” The kind that colored a great many acts with life; memorable acts, small and enormous, that gave a fresh and quickening breath to faint and lifeless age.