On Tuesday, April 18, Jews around the world and humanity will mark Yom Ha’shoah (officially Yom Ha’zikaron La’shoah V’hag’vurah, which translates to The Day of Memorial for the Holocaust and the Heroism, generally shortened to Yom Ha’shoah).

In Israel, the day is marked by official ceremonies, flags at half-mast and, most famously, by a siren marking a moment of silence during which traffic comes to a standstill.

Ceremonies are being held around the world with the lighting of six candles in memory of six million Jews, reciting the mourner Kaddish and first-hand account given by Holocaust survivors.

When World War II ended and the world was finally clearly aware of the incredible devastation wrought in Europe, there were no words.

While mourning for their own nation’s soldiers, the world was faced with accepting the fact that the Nazis had purposefully and systematically murdered six million Jewish men, women and children as well as several million others whom they classified as lesser human beings.

On May 6, 1945, the allied forces, the U.S. Third Army entered the death camp and liberated camp Ebensee, in Auschwitz, Poland; 2.5 million Jews were murdered.

Hugo Gryn, an Auschwitz’s survivor, described the conditions: “It was a denial of God. It was a denial of man. It was the destruction of the world in miniature form.”

One soldier remembered: “The living that were walking around were so gaunt; their heads were shaven; they had sores on their bodies. Some were walking naked in a daze …”

The lessons of the Holocaust must be taught to all future generations. When Nazi Germany targeted Jews for a final solution, the world was silent.

No one could believe that the center for emancipation, the arts, philosophy, could carry out such evil. Holocaust museums and educational centers around the country provide opportunities to learn, to be aware and apply its lessons.

The term “Holocaust” is a word of Greek origin used to describe massacres. As it came to be applied to the events in Europe in the 1940s, the term emerged as the name for this highly specific genocide.

In traditional communities, the events of the Holocaust are referred to as “Churban Europe” or “the Churban,” a term which parallels the destruction of the Torah learning centers in Europe with the destruction of the Holy Temple.

If a family or a community wishes to observe this event, it can be observed through lighting a memorial candle of 24 hours at sunset of April 17, 2023. Communities and persons may hold a creative ceremony to mark the occasion.

Rabbi Moshe Elbaz is with Temple Israel. He may be contacted at (229) 244-1813.