By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com Yom HaShoah is known as Holocaust Remembrance Day.  What many people are unaware of is the earlier history of the desire to establish such a date.  In this article, we will discuss the opinions of three great Rabbinic figures who advocated establishing a specific day in the Jewish calendar to memorialize the victims of the holocaust.  The purpose was to create an opportunity for a communal fast and to memorialize those who were tragically murdered and whose yahrtzeit date we do not know. One of these Gedolim also stated that it was so that future generations would be aware of what the nation had lost. The three Rabbinic figures were, the Satmar Rebbe zt”l, Rav Aharon Kotler zt”l, and Rav Yaakov Yechiel Weinberg zt”l. THE SATMAR REBBE ZT”L After the war, a number of Rabbis approached Rav Yoel Teitelbaum zt”l  (1887–1979), the Satmar Rebbe to establish a Yom HaZikaron for the victims of the holocaust on the day before Rosh Chodesh Sivan.  He responded to this request of Moreinu HaRav Pinchas Halpert, on the 8th of Iyar in the year 5706 – May 9th, 1946.  He writes:  I received your letter regarding the matter of making Erev Rosh Chodesh Sivan a Yom HaZikaron.  Now certainly it is a proper thing to do and to establish it on Erev Rosh Chodesh Sivan as he has written with all the details.  But to do so as a neder (a vow) is quite difficult in these times when there are many breaks in the fences.. and in new obligations it can Heaven forbid be a source of new stumbling blocks, as the verse says, it is preferable not to make vows..especially regarding fasts in this weak generation.. But even so, one can do so without a neder.  The main thing is to make fences and protections to establishing the Holy Torah – for this is our life.  The letter is reprinted below. RAV AHARON KOTLER ZT”L What is not so well known is that Rav Aharon Kotler zatzal (1891-1962) was not only supportive of establishing a memorial day for Holocaust victims, but he actually spearheaded a movement to establish such a day after the war was over.  The day that he advocated to establish as commemorating this enormous tragedy in world history was the seventh day of Cheshvan.  The letters, to this author’s knowledge, have never been printed or published.  They are found in the archives of Rav Aharon Kotler zatzal held in the Lakewood Yeshiva.  Those archives form a treasure trove of recent Jewish history.  This author was privileged to spend time in those archives examining and reading Rav Aharon’s letters and correspondences.  The letters have a deep emotional element, as Rav Aharon desperately tried to save those who were destined to perish in the holocaust.  It was not clear to this author as to why this date was chosen. RAV YAAKOV YECHIEL WEINBERG ZT”L Rav Yaakov Yechiel Weinberg (1884-1966), the last Rosh Yeshiva of Rav Azriel Hildesheimer’s yeshiva in Berlin and a talmid of the Slabodka Yeshiva,  zatzal wrote (see Responsa Sridei Aish Vol. 1:31):  In my opinion, it is proper to institute a specific day of mourning and commemoration for the Rabbis and holy victims that were murdered, slaughtered, and burned al kiddush Hashem, […]

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