Your editorial entitled “Holocaust Observance” (April 20) points out the increasing importance of Holocaust observance as the generation of survivors passes on. You ask, “If the people who lived through the death camps and ghettos are no longer around … who will refute the Holocaust deniers?”
While Holocaust denial is a problem, of much larger concern is Holocaust apathy. How many of our young people attend Holocaust memorial services (not counting the “captive” audience of students mandated to attend or who are there to perform in the choir)?
It is reasonable to assume that students of today see World War II as about as relevant to them as we perceive World War I to be important to us.
Perhaps combining Yom HaShoah and Yom Ha’Atzmaut into a single “official” holiday commemorating that period of history will ensure greater participation and enhance the meaning of both events to future generations of Jews.
