The majority of the Jewish people, close to 6 million, excluding less than 1 million Charedim, observed 3 days of commemorations, days that changed the entire world! I'll start with Yom HaShoah!
Jews around the world celebrate Purim with Megillah readings, masquerading, and eating a Seuda! Some even celebrate 3 days, like we had this year!
Let me ask a stupid question!
How many Jews did Haman kill??
The answer is, of course, ZERO! Haman didn't kill one single Jew, yet we make sure to remember every year that he tried!
Hitler ym"s murdered 6 million Jews and changed the lives of millions that survived, forever, and yet there isn't a single day set aside to commemorate the single worst calamity to have befallen the Jewish people in its entire history!
In just about 10 years, there won't be a single survivor to tell the story!
Finally, Zionists set one special day for all of us to remember that awful period! One part of the ceremony that they perform that day is that they blow the Siren for two minutes to give pause and remember the innocent men, women, and children who were so brutally murdered!
You would think that Frum Jews in Israel would honor those two minutes and stand with millions of their own brothers and sisters to be part, albeit for just two minutes, to be one unit!
Think again!! They have all kinds of excuses!!
"Zionists!" "The Rabbis say it is bittul Torah!" "It's in Chodesh Nissan" "The Rabbis set aside Tisha Be'ov"
Bla Bla Bla Bla!!
Let's move on to Yom Ha'zikoron!
With Yom Ha'Zikoron there is no excuse that it is in Chodesh Nissan! Because Yom Ha'Zikoron is in Iyar!
Yom Ha'Zikoron commemorates all Jews who have fallen, including those civilians murdered by terrorists! There isn't a Jew living in Israel that you bump into who doesn't have a relative who fell or got injured in the wars!
I had the occasion to visit Har Herzl and noticed an entire area dedicated to very young people who died fighting so that Jews from the entire world could live in the country! The dead had all been in concentration camps, and when liberated, arrived in 1946, 1947, and took arms to make sure we have a country that would admit ALL Jews! Some of the dead were teenagers!
I was sitting in Kollel when the Siren blew for two minutes! My Chabura stood up and remained silent for two minutes! The rest of the "yungerleit" continued as if nothing had happened! Mind you, in the shul where the Kollel is housed, there are families that have children who were injured! Across the street from this kollel were three funerals this year, of young men who were murdered in Gaza!
Those learning in the kollel, are young guys who are the friendliest, nicest people that you would ever encounter! What they won't do to help a fellow Jew! Yet here they are, totally ignoring the siren on purpose! Immediately after the siren, some get up to get a coffee or a bite of mezonos and carry on!
I'm thinking, what just happened? Should I say something?
The answer is that they are really good, kind people, but are totally disconnected and oblivious to what is happening around them! They do follow the news because I hear their conversations, and they do run out of Kollel like poisoned rats during a missile siren, but feel that all this has nothing to do with them!
I'm not even going to talk about Yom Ha'atzmot, but many did run out early to make the traditional "al ha'eish" a bar-b-q with their young families!
But my question is this:
I waited a full a full week to see if the frum Anglo Jewish Media would even give these days an "Honorable Mention"? ZERO!!!!! Nada !
Millions of Jews commemorate these days, like it or not, and not one word!
Let me share with you a sampling of what the Flatbush Jewish Journal's "Centerfold" displayed!
A series of photos of the Children of the Yeshivah Torah Temima visiting Dr. Norowitz's office, Photos of pre-school children of Yeshiva Torah Vodass enjoying the outdoors!
All this while millions of Jews were running to shelters, dodging Houthi ballistic Rockets!
I am not even asking that they write something nice, is it too much to ask that they write a 12-sentence article about an event that is commemorated by Millions of Jews??
The gemarrah in Taanis discusses minor tragic events that happened to Jewish people, but we are frummer than the gemmarrah!
מי כעמך ישראל