The following brief rabbinic responsum appeared on the front page of the website Yeshiva.org.il. It is worth reading carefully.
Question
Since the State of Israel fixed Holocaust Remembrance Day in the month of Nisan — despite the rule that mourning is forbidden during Nisan — how are we meant to conduct ourselves on that day?
Answer
Yom Hashoah is not a day of mourning but a day of remembrance — one speaks about the Holocaust and holds various memorial ceremonies. Therefore, ideally, had the rabbis been asked, they would have said not to set it during Nisan. But since it has already been established, it is not so terrible.
This says it all.
For the religious but state-minded (mamlachti) public, binding is whatever issues from the mouth of the authorities. For the “Charedi” public, “minhag” is binding. But the root is the same.
Here is the farcical formula:
A flimsy justification + a thin distinction = “it’s not so terrible…” |