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🌐 Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27th)

This is an archive of prayers composed for, or relevant to, International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day is an international memorial day on 27 January, the day of the liberation of the Auschwitz Birkenau concentration camp. The day memorializes the unfathomable horror of the Nazi regime and its collaborators that resulted in the deaths of approximately seventeen million people including the genocide of six million Jews and a quarter million or more Roma. The Nazi atrocities include the killing of nine million Russians (including prisoners of war), 1.8 million Poles, over three-hundred thousands Serbs, a quarter million or more disabled persons, an undetermined number of political prisoners including seventy-thousand so-called asocials (LGBT persons), and nearly two thousand Jehova’s Witnesses.

The day was designated by the United Nations General Assembly resolution 60/7 on 1 November 2005 during the 42nd plenary session. The resolution came after a special session was held earlier that year on 24 January 2005 during which the United Nations General Assembly marked the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps and the end of the Holocaust. See here, for other Holocaust Memorial Days.

If you have composed a prayer or prayer-poem for International Holocaust Remembrance Day, please share it here.

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[Prayer on] the German Crisis, by Rabbi Norman M. Goldburg (3 April 1933)

“The German Crisis” by Rabbi Norman Michael Goldburg, was offered before the California state legislature on 3 April 1933, and published in California Legislature 50th Session 1933: Prayers Offered at the Daily Sessions of the Assembly, pp. 59-60. . . .

Tags: 1933 in Germany, 20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., California State Legislature, English vernacular prayer, Prayers of Guest Chaplains, Reichstag Fire Decree, United States

Contributor(s): Norman Michael Goldburg and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Prayer for all Jewish Communities in Germany for the Eve of the Day of Atonement, by Rabbi Dr. Leo Baeck (10 October 1935)

This is the prayer which Rabbi Dr. Leo Baeck had disseminated to Jewish communities throughout Germany to recite on Yom Kippur, 10 October 1935. The German text here is as found in the archival notes of Helmut Grünewald, Ein Judenjunge durfte kein Deutscher sein (Bristol, 1998), pp. 20-21 in the collection of the Leo Baeck Institute. The English translation is as published by Dr. Michael Meyer in Rabbi Leo Baeck: Living a Religious Imperative in Troubled Times (2020), pp. 106-107. . . .

Categories: 🌐 Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27th), Kristallnacht (9-10 November, 16 Marḥeshvan), 🇮🇱 Yom haShoah (27 Nisan), Yom Kippur

Tags: 20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., עמידה amidah, German Jewry, German vernacular prayer, standing meditation, Third Reich, Yom Kippur

Contributor(s): Leo Baeck and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

תפילה לעזרת היהודים תושבי גרמניה | Prayer for German Jewry under Nazi oppression before and after Kristallnacht (Office of the Chief Rabbi of the British Empire 1938)

An untitled prayer on behalf of German Jewry under Nazi oppression disseminated in Bombay, likely after Kristallnacht (9-10 November 1938). . . .

Categories: 🌐 Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27th), Kristallnacht (9-10 November, 16 Marḥeshvan), 🇮🇱 Yom haShoah (27 Nisan), Shiv'ah Asar b'Tamuz, 🇺🇸 Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust

Tags: 20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., anti-fascist, British Empire, German Jewry, Jews of India, the Holocaust, Third Reich, World War Ⅱ

Contributor(s): Joseph Herman Hertz, Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Prayer on the Declaration of War [against Nazi Germany], by Rabbi Joseph H. Hertz (Office of the Chief Rabbi of the British Empire 1940)

This prayer for victory and deliverance in the war against Nazi Germany, simply titled “War Prayer,” appears in the Prayer Book of Jewish Members of H.M. Forces (Office of the Chief Rabbi 1940), pp. 16-17. Sections of the prayer were adapted from the prayer on the declaration of war by Rabbi Hertz in 1914 at the outset of World War I. In the preface to the payer book, Rabbi Joseph H. Hertz specifically mentions this prayer, among others, as having been newly revised for this publication. The initial version of the prayer, likely to have been written by Rabbi Hertz, was published by the Office of the Chief Rabbi for a 17 Tammuz service in July 1938. A revision was disseminated after Kristallnacht (9-10 November 1938). This is the third version of the prayer. . . .

Categories: 🌐 Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27th), 🇺🇸 Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust, War, 🌐 Armistice Day (November 11th), 🇬🇧 United Kingdom

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., anti-fascist, anti-Nazi, British Jewry, military, Third Reich, World War Ⅱ

Contributor(s): Joseph Herman Hertz, Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Prayer of Intercession [for Britain in the War against Nazi Germany], by Rabbi Joseph H. Hertz (Office of the Chief Rabbi of the British Empire 1940)

“Prayer for Intercession,” almost certainly written by Rabbi Joseph H. Hertz, was published in the Prayer Book of Jewish Members of H.M. Forces (Office of the Chief Rabbi 1940), pp. 18-19. . . .

Categories: 🌐 Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27th), 🇺🇸 Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust, War, 🌐 Armistice Day (November 11th), 🇬🇧 United Kingdom

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., anti-fascist, anti-Nazi, British Jewry, military, Third Reich, World War Ⅱ

Contributor(s): Joseph Herman Hertz, Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Prayer for a Service of Intercession [for European Jewry during the Holocaust], by Lilian Helen Montagu (ca. 1940)

This undated “Special prayer for Service of Intercession” by the Hon. Lily H. Montagu (1873-1963) from the archives of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue, London, was published in, Lily Montagu: Sermons, Addresses, Letters, and Prayers (ed. Ellen M. Umansky, 1985), pp. 356-357. From the contents, it reads as if it was composed in response to the terrifying news of the tortuous treatment of European Jews during the Holocaust. In 1940, other “intercession” services were offered with comparative prayers; for example, this one by the chief rabbi J.H. Hertz included in the Prayer Book for H.M. Forces. . . .

Categories: 🌐 Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27th), 🇮🇱 Yom haShoah (27 Nisan), 🇺🇸 Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., British Jewry, English vernacular prayer, the Holocaust, World War Ⅱ

Contributor(s): Lilian Helen Montagu and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

שִׁיר הַגְאוּלָה (החיינו אל) | Shir ha-Ge’ulah (Song of Redemption), by an anonymous author (1940)

This is a vocalized transcription and translation of the World War Ⅱ era song, “Shir haGe’ulah (Song of Redemption)” from the source images shared in A Tribute to Rabbi Mordechai Meir Hakohen Bryski v”g Bryski (Rabbi Mordechai A. Katz, 2017), pp. 19-20. The song is also known by its incipit, “Heḥayyeinu El.” . . .

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., acrostic, חבּ״ד ḤaBaD Lubavitch, משיח Moshiaḥ, the Holocaust, World War Ⅱ, זמירות zemirot

Contributor(s): Unknown Author(s) and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

זאָג ניט קײן מאָל | Partisaner Lid (the Partisan Song), by Hirsh Glik (Vilna Ghetto, 1943)

The Yiddish resistance song, “Partisaner Lid” (The Partisan Song) was composed by Hirsh Glick in the Vilna Ghetto in 1943. . . .

Categories: 🌐 Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27th), 🇮🇱 Yom haShoah (27 Nisan), Ḥanukkah, 🇺🇸 Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust

Tags: 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., anti-fascist, anti-fascist action, anti-Nazi, Guerrilla warfare, partisan resistance, resistance, the Holocaust, Ukrainian translation, Vilna, World War Ⅱ, Yiddish songs, Yiddish vernacular prayer, Yiddishland

Contributor(s): comYakowenko (translation), Noam Lerman (translation), Hirsh Glik and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

אֵל מָלֵא רַחֲמִים | El Malé Raḥamim for Victims of the Shoah (the Netherlands, ca. late 1940s)

This is an undated El Malé Raḥamim prayer for the victims of the Shoah translated into Dutch for a Yom Kippur ne’ilah service, likely sometime soon after the Holocaust had ended. To this I have added an English translation for those not fluent in Dutch or Hebrew. We are grateful to Shufra Judaica (Ellie Fisher and David Selis) for sharing a digital copy of this prayer. . . .

Categories: Kristallnacht (9-10 November, 16 Marḥeshvan), 🌐 Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27th), 🇮🇱 Yom haShoah (27 Nisan), 🇺🇸 Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., Dutch Jewry, אל מלא רחמים El Malé Raḥamim, נעילה‎ neilah, Netherlandish Jewry, the Holocaust, השואה the Shoah

Contributor(s): Unknown Translator(s), Unknown Author(s) and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

שְׁפוֹךְ אֲהָבָתֵךְ | Shfokh Ahavatekh (Pour Out Your Love), by Rabbi Ḥayyim Bloch (1948)

A paraliturgical adaptation of the prayer/curse, “Shfokh Ḥamatekha,” this prayer, likely written during, or just after the Holocaust, recognizes those nations and righteous gentiles who fought and risked their lives to aid and rescue European Jewry. . . .

Categories: 🌐 Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27th), Kristallnacht (9-10 November, 16 Marḥeshvan), 🇮🇱 Yom haShoah (27 Nisan), Barekh, 🇺🇸 Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., paraliturgical shfokh hamatekha, post-Holocaust liturgical adaptations, righteous gentiles, שפוך חמתך shfokh ḥamatekha, the Holocaust, World War Ⅱ

Contributor(s): Mosheh Ḥayyim ben Avraham Abba Bloch and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

קִינָה עַל חֻרְבָּן הָאַחֲרוֹן | Lamentation on the Holocaust, by Shimon Zuker (1980)

A ḳinnah composed by a concentration camp survivor. . . .

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., Cantillated readings in English, קינות Ḳinōt, the Holocaust

Contributor(s): Gertrude Hirschler (translation), Simon Zuker, Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Len Fellman (translation)

על השואה ועל התפלתה | Prayer in the Shoah, an essay and a prayer by Rabbi Dr. David Weiss Halivni (2000)

A meditation on a unique prayer heard by Rabbi Dr. David Weiss Halivni at the Rosh Hashanah services at the Wolfsberg Labor Camp in 1944. . . .

Categories: Holocaust & Genocide Memorial Day Readings, 🌐 Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27th), Kristallnacht (9-10 November, 16 Marḥeshvan), 🇮🇱 Yom haShoah (27 Nisan), Pedagogical Essays on Jewish Prayer, Davvening, 🇺🇸 Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., non-dual theology, the Holocaust

Contributor(s): Peter W. Ochs (translation), David Weiss Halivni and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

‏אֵל מָלֵא רַחֲמִים תְפִילָה לַנִּסְפִּים בַּשּׁוֹאָה | El Malé Raḥamim Prayer for the Victims of the Shoah, by Rabbi Yehoyada Amir

A prayer for the victims of the Holocaust in Hebrew with English, Romanian, and Ukrainian translations. . . .

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., אל מלא רחמים El Malé Raḥamim, mourning, Romanian translation, the Holocaust, השואה the Shoah, Ukrainian translation

Contributor(s): Mona Lantz Levi (translation), Lada Moskalets (translation), Yehoyada Amir and Aharon N. Varady (translation)

סֵדֶר לְיוֹם הַשׁוֹאָה | Seder for Yom haSho’ah, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

The most traumatic event in recent Jewish history is the Holocaust. At this time, the survivors of the camps are aging, and in the lifespan of people alive today it is likely that the last survivor will die. We say we must never forget what happened during the Holocaust, but if we think of it as a tragedy that happened to our ancestors we will forget. But it has been 3000 years since the Exodus from Egypt, and the Haggadah keeps its history vivid and alive. We are taught that in each and every generation we are to think of ourselves as having been slaves in Egypt. May it be that just as we never forgot the wonders of the Exodus, so too we never forget the horrors of the Holocaust, and continue to strive that such horrors may never happen again until all live in freedom and peace. . . .

Categories: 🌐 Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27th), Kristallnacht (9-10 November, 16 Marḥeshvan), 🇮🇱 Yom haShoah (27 Nisan)

Tags: 21st century C.E., כ״ז ניסן Nisan 27, 58th century A.M., Mourning this Broken World, North America, speaking truth to power, symbolic foods, the Holocaust, השואה the Shoah

Contributor(s): Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Romi Cohn on 29 January 2020

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 29 January 2020. . . .

Categories: 🌐 Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27th), 🇺🇸 United States of America, Opening Prayers for Legislative Bodies

Tags: 116th Congress, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, U.S. House of Representatives, Prayers of Guest Chaplains

Contributor(s): the Congressional Record of the United States of America and Romi Cohn

אֶפְתַּח פִּי לְךָ אָדוֹן | Eftaḥ Pi L’kha Adōn, a seliḥah for Kristallnacht by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

There’s a lot of controversy over Yom haShoah as a date. One of the key issues is this: traditionally, the ways Jews mourn communal tragedies is through establishing a fast day. It’s forbidden to fast during the month of Nisan. It’s hard to pick any specific date to commemorate a tragedy as enormous as the Shoah, but one which seems appropriate to me would be 16 Marḥeshvan, the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the November Pogrom. This piyyut is a seliḥah for Kristallnacht, to be recited on 16 Marḥeshvan (or 15 Marḥeshvan on years like 5782 where the sixteenth falls on a Thursday). . . .

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., acronym, Alphabetic Acrostic, פיוטים piyyutim, קינות Ḳinōt, השואה the Shoah, Third Reich

Contributor(s): Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

תְּפִלָּה לְשׂוֹרְדֵי הַשּׁוֹאָה | Mi sheBerakh for Survivors of the Holocaust, by Rabbi Avi Baumol (2021)

“Holocaust Survivor Prayer” was written in English by Rabbi Avi Baumol in 2021 upon the establishment of Holocaust Survivor Day by the JCC of Krakow, Poland. The prayer was first published at the website of Holocaust Survivor Day. . . .

Categories: During the Aliyot, 🌐 Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27th), 🌐 Holocaust Survivor Day (4 June)

Tags: English vernacular prayer, free translation, Hebrew translation, מי שברך mi sheberakh, needing translation (into Polish), the Holocaust

Contributor(s): Naftali Statman (Hebrew translation), David Rokman (Hebrew translation) and Avi Baumol

Prayer for Yom haShoah (תְּפִלָּה לַיּוֹם הַשּׁוֹאָה) | Gebet für Jom haSchoa, by Rabbi Lior Bar-Ami

This prayer for Yom haShoah in Germany (27 January) containing the El Malé Raḥamim for those who perished in the Holocaust was offered by Rabbi Lior Bar-Ami sometime before May 2024. . . .

Categories: 🌐 Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27th)

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., אל מלא רחמים El Malé Raḥamim, English vernacular prayer, German translation, the Holocaust, יזכור yizkor

Contributor(s): Lior Bar-Ami

Prayer for the International Holocaust Remembrance Day (Gebet für den Internationalen Holocaustgedenktag), by Rabbi Lior Bar-Ami

This prayer for the International Holocaust Remembrance Day was first offered by Rabbi Lior Bar-Ami sometime before May 2024. . . .

Categories: 🌐 Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27th)

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, German translation, the Holocaust

Contributor(s): Lior Bar-Ami

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Associated Image:

A partisan music and dance troupe called "Hoopsa Smikum," in the Naruts Forest. #1 is Chana Pozner, originally from Molodechno. She spent part of the war with her father, Mordechai Pozner, #3. #2 is Y'chiel Borgin.

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17

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