International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Shalom everybody.

 Shalom shalom.

I want in my own name, and in the name of the six million Jews who were brutally murdered only because they were Jewish during the Holocaust, to say thank you! Thank you to the United Nations for establishing Jan. 27 as the International Holocaust Rememberance Day for the elevation of the souls and for the memory of these six million Jews.

Before I begin, I would like to say together with you, a verse from the Torah. These are the words that each and every one of the six million Jews, said before returning their souls to the creator of the world. שמע ישראל ה' אלקינו ה' אחד. (Translitaration: Shema Yistaerl Adonaiy Eloheinu Adoinaiy Echad.) 

The truth is, it's a little upsetting to me that they made one day to commemorate and remember the Holocaust. Because The commemoration and remembrance of the Holocaust takes place every single day. The suffering that the Nazis caused to the Jewish people is a daily suffering; it is not just one day a year, it's an eternal suffering.

I would like to share with you an experience that happened to my father in Uruguay. My father was the Rabbi of Uruguay for three years. And he became friends with a survivor of the holocaust who lived there and who came to the synagogue every day. One day my father saw him, from afar in the street walking, as always, alone: Without company, Without parents, Without siblings, Without children, And with no wife. He had no one in the world, apart from my father and the synagogue community. Seeing my father, he stopped walking and he looked deeply into my father's eyes, and he also looked at the check in his hand. It was a check for a thousand dollars. He had received this check twenty minutes ago at the German Embassy. With tears in his eyes, he told my father; they took my parents, they took my children, they took my brothers, they took my wife, and this is what they give me in return, a check for a thousand dollars.

 The suffering that the Nazis caused to the Jewish people is a daily suffering; it is not just one day a year, it's an eternal suffering.

 Last Hanukkah I visited Israel. In Jerusalem there is a holocaust survivor that I know named moshe. He lives near the Hebrew University. On the first day of Hanukkah, I called him to ask him how he is doing. I asked him: who are you going to light the chanukkah candles with? I will never forget the answer he gave me. He answered me with a verse from the Torah, saying: "ani am levadad yishkon" I live alone, I am alone, I light the Hanukkah candles alone. I replied to him: I'll be at your house in 20 minutes. And so we lit the Hanukkah candles together.

The suffering that the Nazis caused the Jewish people is daily suffering, it is not just one day a year, it is simply an eternal suffering.

 But the truth is that not only the Jew from Uruguay is a Holocaust survivor, and not only the Jew Moshe from Jerusalem is a Holocaust survivor, but each and every one of us are also Holocaust survivors. Ten years ago, in the year 2013, a man named Ed Koch passed away, he was the mayor of New York City for 11 years, and he was Jewish. His Hebrew name was Avraham Katz. He was a friend of the Consul of Israel here in New York, Naftali Lau. Naftali was a Holocaust survivor, he was in Auschwitz and also in Buchenwald. In one of the meetings, between Ed Koch and Naftali Lau, Koch asked Naftali: Tell me, do you have any relatives left? Were they all killed in the Holocaust? Naftali replied: I do! But there are only two of us left from my entire family, me and my brother. My brother's name is Israel Meir Lau, he is the Chief Rabbi of the city of Netanya. Ed Koch was amazed. Your brother was in Buchenwald and became a rabbi? I have to meet him. Please, the next time he comes to New York, bring him to my office, Koch requested. After some time, Rabbi Israel Meir Lau came to meet Ed Koch. Ed says to the rabbi, "Do you know something? I am also a Holocaust survivor." 

Rabbi Israel Meir Lau thought for a moment that Koch had lost his mind, he was born in the Bronx, how could he be a holocaust survivor? But koch explained, this happened a short time after I was elected mayor of New York, in 1978. They invited me to berlin, and took me to see hitler's office, may his name be obliterated. I saw a circular shape on the floor, it was a map of the world, it was Hitler's map. I approached the terrestrial globe and saw that there were dozens of numbers on the map, there was a number noted in each country, I asked what was the meaning of this? and they explained to me: that it was the number of jews in each country. Hitler's researchers investigated, how many jews were in each country in the world, and Hitler noted it on the map. And by the way, Over the united states a very symbolic number was written: six million. According to Hitler's researchers, there were 6 million Jews in the United States at that time, but there was a number that caught my attention, Koch said: The number from a country in Europe, called Albania whose capital is Tirania. Strangly the number written was one! One!! There was only one Jew, only one Jew, but Hitler did not care, he was going to conquer Albania, with the intention of assassinating that only Jew.

Each jew is a survivor of the holocaust, each one of us was part of Hitler's plan. The Nazis wanted to exterminate us, they wanted the Jewish people to no longer exist. Our obligation is to take revenge against them, with full force. It is written in the Torah, that there is a mitzvah, a commandment, to remember what the Nazis did to us, as the Torah says: אשר עשה לך עמלק בדרך בצאתכם ממצרים זכור את . You should remember what Amalek did to you, you should never forget. Not only should we remember, but we must also take revenge against them, the Torah orders us, as it is written תמחה את זכר עמלק. And how can we accomplish this practically? How can we make sure that the Nazis will not succeed? there is only one way!! To continue with Jewish tradition. Let Every Jewish man put on tefillin every morning, let every Jewish woman light the Shabbat candles. Let each one of us put a mezuza on every door, give tzedaka, eat only kosher food; but the most important thing is that we fulfill mitzvot the commandments with ahavat israel, with a love for our brothers in a true and essential way.

There was a Jewish holocaust survivor who passed away a few years ago, he wore tefillin every day, and even in the holocaust he wanted to put on tefillin. While In Auschwitz, he saw a pair of tefillin 20 meters away from him, he ran to grab the tefillin, to fulfill the mitzvah, but a Nazi soldier saw This and shouted: Don't you dare put on tefilin. And for a long time he beat him mercilessly, on all parts of his body. Due to his pain, he was unable to sit or lie down for over a year. To fall asleep he had to lie on his stomach. The Nazis wanted the Jewish tradition to be forgotten, but we will never allow it. The Jewish tradition will not be forgotten, we will keep Shabbat, we will put on tefillin, we will put a mezuzah on each door and we will not be afraid to show off any of our Jewish heritage. This will be our revenge, to continue with the tradition, because the Nazis did not want the Jewish tradition to continue, and we are going to win, not the Nazis! The Holocaust was not just pure murder, the Nazis had an objective, to destroy and take away the essence of the Jewish people, they tried to destroy everything, the faith, the Jewish presence of the past and the future and the wearing of tefillin.

On January 27, I participated in the International Holocaust Remembrance Day at the United Nations. At the end of the event, dozens of Jews stood up, donned tefillin and shouted: שמע ישראל ה' אלקינו ה' אחד Then on the spot, I wrote for myself some thoughts, which I would like to share with you. I quote; "I am writing from here, from the UN building, to every Nazi wherever they may be, in the grave. No!! you didn't beat us!!! You wanted this to be the last photo of a Jew putting on a tefillin, you wanted to turn us into a museum, a nation that was no longer existing. Here today you have dozens of Jews putting on tefillin at the UN, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. עם ישראל חי וקיים !! The Jewish nation is alive and well!! the Jewish people proclaim: Victory is ours!