Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day begins tonight, one week before Independence Day, in memory of the more than six million Jews murdered in Europe by the Nazi regime between 1941-1945. The theme for this year's commemorations is, "Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust - Sixty Years Since the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising."
The official opening ceremony will take place tonight at 8 PM at the Warsaw Ghetto Square, in the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, with the participation of President Moshe Katzav and Prime Minister Sharon. Avner Shalev, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate, will kindle the Holocaust Memorial Torch, Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar will recite Psalms, and Chief Rabbi Yonah Metzger will recite the Kaddish prayer. Tomorrow at 10 AM, a two-minute memorial siren will be sounded throughout the country. A "memorial minute of silence" can be seen at http://www.thejewishexchange.com/images/holidays/yomhashoah/sixmillion.html
All places of entertainment in Israel will be closed, in accordance with the law. The now-traditional March of the Living will take place in Poland tomorrow afternoon between Birkenau and Auschwitz, to commemorate the Jews' forced Death Marches along the same route in the 1940's.
Six survivors, all of whom took part in resistance efforts, will light six torches during the ceremony, symbolizing the more than six million Jews who were lost in the Holocaust. The stories of the heroic six appear in a Special Insert.
The official opening ceremony will take place tonight at 8 PM at the Warsaw Ghetto Square, in the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, with the participation of President Moshe Katzav and Prime Minister Sharon. Avner Shalev, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate, will kindle the Holocaust Memorial Torch, Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar will recite Psalms, and Chief Rabbi Yonah Metzger will recite the Kaddish prayer. Tomorrow at 10 AM, a two-minute memorial siren will be sounded throughout the country. A "memorial minute of silence" can be seen at http://www.thejewishexchange.com/images/holidays/yomhashoah/sixmillion.html
All places of entertainment in Israel will be closed, in accordance with the law. The now-traditional March of the Living will take place in Poland tomorrow afternoon between Birkenau and Auschwitz, to commemorate the Jews' forced Death Marches along the same route in the 1940's.
Six survivors, all of whom took part in resistance efforts, will light six torches during the ceremony, symbolizing the more than six million Jews who were lost in the Holocaust. The stories of the heroic six appear in a Special Insert.