Shalom all,

There are dates and events in history that become etched in our memory banks. They are brought forth from time to time to remind us to remember them. Some events are international in their scope, such as September 11, 2001 (i.e., 9/11) and the Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020. Some are national, such as the Exodus from Egypt on Passover and the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai; December 7, 1941 – the bombing of the U.S. Naval Base in Pearl Harbor, “… a day that will live in infimy forever”. Some events are regional, such as 70 A.D. – the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Roman General Titus. Some relate to individuals – the death of Messiah Yeshua as the Passover Lamb and His resurrection, both according to the Scriptures. But, there are other events that relate to a specific people, and the attempts to eliminate them from the face of the earth – Psalm 83:4 – “Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation, that the name of Israel be remembered no more.” This is actually a series of events and attempts by those who hate God, who have exalted themselves and who made and make shrewd plans against “Your people” (Psalm 83:2-3; Deuteronomy 7:7; see the Scroll of Esther).

The Passover Haggadah (the telling of the Passover story at the annual Seder meal, the night of the Passover) contains the following statement (translation from Hebrew): “In every generation they rise up against us to destroy us.” A reading of Biblical history confirms this – Pharaoh’s command to kill all newborn, Jewish males and Herod’s command to kill all Jewish males under the age of two years old. Persecution under the Romans – You cannot live here as a Jew; convert or die. The slaughter of over a million Jews during the time of the Crusades; the expulsion of Jews from Spain and Portugal – You cannot live here. The pogroms in Russia and Eastern Europe and, eventually, to the Holocaust, the planned “final solution” to rid the world of the Jewish people – You cannot live!

But, WE DO LIVE. God has declared that He would always leave a remnant to Himself (Genesis 45:7; 50:20; 1 Kings 19:18; 2 Kings 19:4; Isaiah 37:4; 2 Chronicles 34:9; Jeremiah 42:2; 43:5; Ezra 9:8, 13, and many others, among them Isaiah 10:22 – “For though your people, O Israel, may be like the sand of the sea, only a remnant within them will return; a destruction is determined , overflowing with righteousness.” Those who receive this blog are of many different nations, peoples, languages and beliefs. Some believe in the God of the Bible and what is written in its pages and others who do not. The fact remains: What was intended for bad, God intended for good (Genesis 50:20).

Today is a national day of remembrance. A short while ago, sirens sounded throughout the land, piercing the relative silence and reminding people to stop whatever they are doing, wherever they are – at home, on the street, in the office and even on the highway. We paused for two-minutes in silent remembrance of the satanic, systematic plot designed to destroy us as a people, “so that the name of Israel would be no more.” Some remember the loss of family and friends, who were victims of the Nazi regime, even as some of them remember their personal experiences of having lived through the nightmare of the Holocaust. They don’t forget and we cannot allow ourselves to forget. 

Each year at this time, emotions well up within me that are difficult to suppress. Stories told by survivors of a dark night in the history of mankind that will always remain as a cancerous wart on the hide of society. As one survivor, now 92 years of age and living in Israel, said; “I cannot forget. I live with it year after year, month after month, day after day.” Tears flow freely, with no attempt on my part to stop them. A few months ago, I wrote of some of the events of the trip to Poland that my wife and I made back in September, 2019, and my hope to find traces of my family, who had lived in a small village north of Warsaw, whose entire Jewish population, with the exception of about two dozen, were murdered in the Holocaust. I remember our visit to the site of the one and only Jewish cemetery that had existed for hundreds of years, with tens of thousands of graves, that was entirely destroyed by the Nazis within a few weeks following their invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. “A portion of my family’s history has been wiped out, as if it never existed.” How would you feel, if this was your family?

It is difficult to express, in words, the sense of loss of knowing that I had aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents and generations of family who preceded them, who lived and raised families, who worked, who died and were buried there. Yet their names, once etched on concrete gravestones, were erased in a moment by a tank and/or bulldozer that swept through the centuries-old cemetery. My parents are both gone, the last generation of our family from that village to leave and never to return. “There is something that is built into the fabric of our being that longs for permanence, for an existence that continues beyond our days.”

By God’s abundant grace, I found life in Israel, where my wife and children were born. They all served in the I.D.F. and our youngest son continues to do so, as an officer. He  visited Poland two months after we returned, as part of a special program of the I.D.F.  and wrote, as part of his experience there: “It is my privilege as a Messianic Jewish Officer, a free man and one who belongs to the Messiah, to be a representative here, not only on behalf of the army but as the representative of our whole family!”

Attached is a moving, 2-minute video, with translation, but no link, of a special meeting between an 89-year-old Holocaust survivor and her grandson, that speaks for itself. For Hebrew speakers, the link to the same video from the IDF website, but without translation, can be seen here.

The spirit of freedom – to live, to protect and defend are part of the warp and woof of those who are the remnant of the Jewish people today. In a directive issued yesterday by Lt. General Aviv Kochavi, to all I.D.F. personnel, he wrote, in part: 

“When the soldiers of the Jewish Brigade went into the concentration camps with the Allies, the survivors couldn’t believe their eyes – soldiers were wearing the Star of David. They saw a Jewish solider as a contradiction in terms … something that could not be.”

Time after time, Kochavi wrote: “We remember. . . . They all shared the hope that one day, a generation would arise out of the blood and ashes that would have the privilege of living in its own nation – the State of Israel. That is what came to pass. . . . The Star of David is no longer a badge of shame, but the symbol of the IDF which expresses the power to defend, time after time, the people and the nation. . . . At this time, our mission is to protect them. We will always remember them . . . We will follow in their path and remain vigilant, so that we need never depend on someone else’s kindness. We will continue to tell their stories and ensure that their testimonies continue to echo forever, and we will keep in our hearts those who fell victim to the Nazi evil. Memory is a source of strength, of spirit, and of values.“ (my emphasis)

But memories will fade, particularly as the generation that survived the Holocaust slowly passes from the scene. More and more voices are heard denying the fact of the Nazi Holocaust and, sadly, the degree of historical ignorance concerning it among millennials is appalling. The late Prime Minister Menachem Begin wanted all Jews to imagine themselves as having gone through the horror of the Holocaust, to make it a collective experience, similar to the deliverance from slavery in Egypt, the giving of the Ten Commandments, the destruction of the Second Temple and even the expulsion to the diaspora. But, the memory of the Holocaust does not need to be confined to Jewish people.

The number of Holocaust survivors in Israel is 189,500. Almost 15,000 survivors passed away in Israel in 2019, prior to the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic. If this rate continues, in the short space of 14 years, there will be no survivors left. Who will continue to speak and keep the memory of it alive, if not you and me?

If you’ve read this far, then this post speaks to your heart. Please remember not only the victims and their families, but those who put their lives on the line to save Jewish people from the Nazi scourge. The Israeli non-profit organization, “From the Depths” (“Me’ma’amakim”), is assisting those whose actions during the Holocaust saved the lives of Jewish people in Poland, who were recognized as “Righteous Among the the Nations” and were awarded a Certificate of Honor by the State of Israel. During this time of the Coronavirus Pandemic, they are locked away in their homes and only this organization is reaching out to assist them. They helped us in our time of need and they will not be forgotten at this time of their need.

We ALL have a responsibility to remember, to relate and to repeat for generations to come that an evil so incomprehensible was allowed to exist and that, in the midst of what was claimed to be an enlightened society. Even more so, we need to remember that God will preserve the remnant of His people and what was and is meant for evil, God will use for good, even as out of the ashes of the Holocaust, the nation of Israel was re-established in our ancestral land.

A remnant is alive. Some have returned to Israel! Others are still in the Diaspora. Wherever we are, we WILL remember and WILL NOT forget!

Remember also: Bless, be blessed and be a blessing.

Marvin