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YOM HASHOAH YOM HAZIKARON 5777

World Jewish Population by city - Perth Australia 89th (5000)

 Even in Perth we gather together. The oldest Rabbi chants the Kaddish. We bow our heads and respond Amen. We bow our heads - grey and lined, young and vibrant - the old who were there in Europe and the young who were there in Israel and the Jews of Perth far away and safe - we bow our heads and respond Amen.

 Even in Perth we gather at dusk- over 2 Sundays in April - we gather and we remember

 WE REMEMBER. 

 Sundays in Perth .... we live under the bright blue sky.  We live under the warm strong sun. We swim in the wide open ocean. We walk in the green leafy parks. We picnic - we watch footie. We barbecue our sausages and corn.  We plant flowers. We listen to the birds.

 And as the sun sets we gather.  We gather as Jews. We gather as Jews to remember Jews.  We gather mainly to remember Jews we did not know but we gather because we are Jews.  And they were Jews and they were killed because....because they were Jews.

 We hear the speeches, the songs, the eulogies and the testimonies as memorials to the Jews who were killed because they were Jews

 We remember because we are Jews

 We believe in one G-d

We believe “honour your father and your mother”

We believe "keep Shabbat holy"

We believe "do not kill" and will only do so to protect life

We believe " do not commit adultery"

We believe "do not steal"

We believe " do not lie"

We believe " do not covet"

 We perform acts of kindness, we study Torah , we are hospitable and invite guests, we visit the sick . We provide for brides we escort the dead to burial. We pray . We strive to bring peace between people.

And because we are Jews, 6 million men women and children were murdered in the Holocaust -and because we are Jews, over 23 000 young Israeli soldiers have been killed and over 100 000 injured.

Yes even in the sunshine and warmth of faraway Perth we listen and remember and consider and weep.  The wrinkled Jewish men sit with their nightmares as they relive the horrors of their youth .  They share their pain with today's Jewish youth.

On video the Jewish mothers in Jerusalem weep tears onto the dust of the graves of their dead soldier sons and their heartbreaking words unleash a sea of tears in the Jewish mothers in Perth

We are so far away

But even in Perth we Jews gather

Even in Perth we gather to remember.

May their memories be for a blessing

HaShem will guard your going and your coming from now and forever (Tehillim 121 v 8 )

#yom hazikaron #yom hashoah #Israel #jewish solidarity