In the course of his address at the Yom Hashoah commemoration at Logan Hall in
London on May 8, Britain's Chief Rabbi Dr Jonathan Sacks made the following remarks:
"Today Yom Hashoah coincides with the 60th anniversary of VE Day.
And therefore we remember with thanks the courage of the allied forces, amongst
whom were many Jewish servicemen and women, without whom we would not be here
today. May the stories they wrote live on in our memories, and may the Almighty
grant them their reward, whether in heaven or down here on earth.
For 60 years the Holocaust survivors have had the courage to bear witness
to what they saw, and what the world wanted to forget. Their courage almost
defies belief and in tribute to that courage, this year we asked young Jews
throughout the country and indeed throughout the world to engage in a project
called "60 Days for 60 Years." Ten of thousands of young Jews learnt a little
about Judaism every day for 60 days, each in the memory of the name of one of
the victims. Why did we do this? Because the Ba'al Shem Tov once said that every
Jew is like a letter in the scroll of Torah. We asked our young people symbolically
to write back one of those letters into the scroll of Jewish memory. Our young
Jews are determined not to forget, to live for what the victims died for.
We now know that anti-Semitism did not die [with the Holocaust]. We now know
that it is back again in the Middle East, on our campuses and elsewhere. Today
unbelievably anti-Semitism has become fashionable again. The people are different,
the issues are different, but it is still the same cancer of the human soul.
Therefore we say to the survivors - we will not fear, we will never forget
and with G-d's help, we will not fail. The candle you have lit in our hearts
and in the conscience of the world will be for us an everlasting light."
Chief Rabbi Dr Jonathon Sacks is Associate President of the Conference of European
Rabbis.
