Soviet Victory Day adopted into Jewish religious calendar
06/03/2016
Jews remembered the Great Patriotic War
The Jews celebrated a new religious holiday - the Day of Liberation and Salvation. The Jews thanked the Almighty and the Red Army for saving the Jews from complete annihilation by Nazi Germany.
Photo: Stanislav Zalesov, Kommersant / buy photo
Russian Jews held celebrations on the occasion of Victory Day in the oldest synagogue in the capital, which turned 110 these days, the Moscow Choral Synagogue in Kitay-Gorod. The idea to celebrate Victory Day as a religious Jewish holiday was put forward three years ago by a businessman, president of the International Fund of Mountain Jews of Russia German Zakharyaev. “We decided to make May 9 a religious holiday of liberation and salvation, because with the help of the Almighty and thanks to the Red Army, the Jews received freedom and an independent state in 1948,” Mr. Zakharyaev explained to Kommersant. “Our goal is to preserve the memory of victory and what it cost us.
The initiative of Mr. Zakharyaev was almost immediately supported by the chief rabbis of Russia and Israel. And last year in Toulouse (France), at a meeting of the Presidium of the Conference of European Rabbis, members of the Russian delegation, which included Chief Rabbi of Moscow Pinchas Goldschmidt, President of the Russian Jewish Congress Yuri Kanner, President of the International Fund of Mountain Jews of Russia German Zakharyaev and member of the RJC Boris Mints, convinced European Jewish religious leaders to support their proposal to perpetuate Victory Day in the Jewish calendar.
Victory Day is now included in the Russian Jewish religious calendar under the name "Yom Shihrur ve-Atsala" - the Day of Salvation and Liberation. Every year it will be celebrated by Jews all over the world on the day of Iyar 26 (In 1945, May 9 fell on this date of the Jewish calendar). This year, the 26th of Iyar fell on June 3rd. “Due to the fact that the Jewish calendar is lunisolar and does not coincide with the Gregorian chronology, the date of the holiday varies,” explained the chairman of the Congress of Jewish Religious Organizations and Associations in Russia, Rabbi Shimon Levin. “There is a cycle in which every 19 years Victory Day will coincide ".
“The Jewish people know how to keep memorable dates and events that happened thousands of years ago, they are displayed in our calendar,” said Rabbi Shimon Levin. “The victory in World War II is one of the most significant dates in the history of the Jewish people.” “We know that fascist Germany had plans for the complete annihilation of the Jews, and on May 9, 1945, an end was put on this issue,” the rabbi says. “This is of tremendous importance for the Jewish people, which is difficult to overestimate.” But, in his opinion, today there is a problem that every year there are fewer and fewer veterans who were living witnesses of the terrible war. “There is a threat that the memory of the main tragedy of the 20th century will be erased over time,” the rabbi fears. “Now there are countries in Europe that are trying to revise the history of the war.”
“Almost all Jewish holidays are connected with the fact that the Jews managed to survive when someone tried to enslave or destroy them,” said German Zakharyaev, the initiator of the holiday. “Survive thanks to the hope and faith that the Almighty will not leave his people.” According to him, "what happened during the Second World War, fully fits this description." “After all, we all know that everything that happens in the world is from God,” he said. “If we did not believe, then we would not be here today. This means that our duty is to preserve the Divine will for centuries, which once again saved the Jewish people from destruction.” “Our presence here proves that the people of Israel are alive, they remember and honor their history,” Mr. Zakharyaev is convinced. “Only by remembering your past, you can move into the future.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated the Jews on the new holiday. “Each memorable date in the Jewish tradition carries a deep meaning, recalls historical events that are of particular importance for the followers of Judaism,” the congratulatory address says. “The inclusion of Iyar 26 in the Jewish religious calendar is a tribute to the memory of the great feat of soldiers and officers of the Red Army, who crushed Nazism, saved from destruction not only the Jewish, but also other peoples of Europe and the world. And, of course, this is a decisive response to those who are trying to deny the Holocaust, to revise the results of World War II.” According to Vladimir Putin, “wide celebration of the Day of Salvation and Liberation will help strengthen the spiritual and historical traditions of Russian Jews and patriotic education of youth,
“The initiative of the Jews to perpetuate Victory Day in the religious calendar shows that they are not going to revise the results of World War II,” says Roman Lunkin, president of the Guild of Experts on Religion and Law. “Thanks to them, the memory of the most terrible war of the 20th century will enter into a religious tradition that future generations will not forget about it.”
In memory of the Great Patriotic War, three candles were lit in the Moscow Choral Synagogue. The first is in gratitude to the Almighty for the salvation of the Jewish people, the second is in memory of all the victims of the war, the third is in memory of the soldiers of the Red Army who saved the Jews from destruction. In gratitude for the rescue, the rabbis laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and the action "Immortal Regiment" was held in Jerusalem.