Berl Lazar congratulated the Jewish community on the anniversary of the great Victory
Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar congratulated the country's Jewish community on the anniversary of the great Victory.
On the eve of the 80th anniversary of the Victory, celebrated annually on May 9, Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar addressed the Jewish community:
“Dear veterans!
I congratulate you with all my heart on this holiday – the 80th anniversary of the great Victory. For each of us, including those who were born after that war, this is a sacred holiday: after all, it reminds us of the event that gave salvation to our entire people. The Nazis brought slavery to all other nations: to us, the Jews, they brought total extermination.
Today, looking back at the events of those years, we understand with particular clarity that the most terrible thing about Nazism was precisely its ideology – the ideology of hatred, the ideology of violence, the ideology of genocide. The Nazis were quite seriously convinced that they had the “right” to exterminate an entire people, from infants to the elderly – to kill people simply because they were born into a certain nation. By the will of fate, our people became their first victim – but, of course, if the Nazi empire had not been defeated, the same fate could have awaited other nations. Therefore, on this Victory Day, we celebrate not only the military defeat of the Hitlerite Reich, but also the fact that Nazi ideology was outlawed throughout the civilized world.
Almost all of us today were born after that war. But we will always remember that we were born precisely because the soldiers of the Red Army and the allies of the anti-Hitler coalition gave their lives for the sake of victory over fascism. They saved not only those who were liberated from the Nazi death camps, but also us – the descendants of those liberated, those who miraculously survived! We bow our heads before your feat and before you – those who brought freedom to the world and miraculous salvation to our people! We will always remember those heroes who are no longer with us, and we will pass on the memory of their great feat to future generations!
And, what is no less important, we will try to do everything so that no one anywhere dares to question the results of your feat, the results of the great Victory! After all, if we look at the world around us, we see that in different regions, organizations, groups and even entire states professing an ideology of hatred are emerging again and again. And past experience teaches us that there is only one step from the ideology of hatred to the ideology of genocide.
Therefore, each of us is obliged to do everything to finally eradicate the legacy of Nazism, to bring closer the era when all nations will finally live in peace and harmony, when the prophecy of the Holy Books about that blessed time will be fulfilled when people “will beat swords into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks, and nation will not lift up sword against nation, and will no longer learn war.” This is our duty to you, the heroes of that war, to our children, to all of humanity,” the congratulatory message of the Chief Rabbi of Russia says.
Berl Lazar congratulated the Jewish community on the anniversary of the great Victory
Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar congratulated the country's Jewish community on the anniversary of the great Victory.
On the eve of the 80th anniversary of the Victory, celebrated annually on May 9, Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar addressed the Jewish community:
“Dear veterans!
I congratulate you with all my heart on this holiday – the 80th anniversary of the great Victory. For each of us, including those who were born after that war, this is a sacred holiday: after all, it reminds us of the event that gave salvation to our entire people. The Nazis brought slavery to all other nations: to us, the Jews, they brought total extermination.
Today, looking back at the events of those years, we understand with particular clarity that the most terrible thing about Nazism was precisely its ideology – the ideology of hatred, the ideology of violence, the ideology of genocide. The Nazis were quite seriously convinced that they had the “right” to exterminate an entire people, from infants to the elderly – to kill people simply because they were born into a certain nation. By the will of fate, our people became their first victim – but, of course, if the Nazi empire had not been defeated, the same fate could have awaited other nations. Therefore, on this Victory Day, we celebrate not only the military defeat of the Hitlerite Reich, but also the fact that Nazi ideology was outlawed throughout the civilized world.
Almost all of us today were born after that war. But we will always remember that we were born precisely because the soldiers of the Red Army and the allies of the anti-Hitler coalition gave their lives for the sake of victory over fascism. They saved not only those who were liberated from the Nazi death camps, but also us – the descendants of those liberated, those who miraculously survived! We bow our heads before your feat and before you – those who brought freedom to the world and miraculous salvation to our people! We will always remember those heroes who are no longer with us, and we will pass on the memory of their great feat to future generations!
And, what is no less important, we will try to do everything so that no one anywhere dares to question the results of your feat, the results of the great Victory! After all, if we look at the world around us, we see that in different regions, organizations, groups and even entire states professing an ideology of hatred are emerging again and again. And past experience teaches us that there is only one step from the ideology of hatred to the ideology of genocide.
Therefore, each of us is obliged to do everything to finally eradicate the legacy of Nazism, to bring closer the era when all nations will finally live in peace and harmony, when the prophecy of the Holy Books about that blessed time will be fulfilled when people “will beat swords into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks, and nation will not lift up sword against nation, and will no longer learn war.” This is our duty to you, the heroes of that war, to our children, to all of humanity,” the congratulatory message of the Chief Rabbi of Russia says.
