163 Ahuza Street, Raanana, ISRAEL -- Telephone/Fax: (972)-9-7717080


HOLOCAUST DAY


Holocaust Day is observed in Israel on the 27th day of the Hebrew month of Nissan (April 13, 1999).

This date was chosen in a resolution passed by the Israeli Knesset in 1951. This date falls between that of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising which began on the first day of Passover and Israel's Memorial Day for the War Dead. Holocaust Day occurs during the traditional mourning period of the Counting of the Omer.

In 1959, the Knesset the Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day Law, which made it mandatory that tribute to victims of the Holocaust and ghetto uprisings be paid in public observances. In 1961, an amendment of the law required that places of entertainment be closed on the eve of Holocaust Day as well as on Holocaust Day itself.

Outside of Israel, Holocaust Remembrance Day is usually commemorated on April 19th, which is the day on which the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising broke out according to the Christian calendar. As previously noted, Israeli law recognizes only the 27th day of Nissan as Holocaust Remembrance Day. It would not have been fitting to observe such a solemn day for Jews according to the Christian calendar -- the same Christian faith which turned its backs on the Jews during World War II.

On Israel Holocaust Eve, sirens sound at 8:00 in the evening throughout the country. The entire country comes to a halt and the main ceremony is televised from the Yad Vashem memorial in Jerusalem. The next day, at 10:00 in the morning, the sirens are once again sounded throughout the country.

During the wail of the sirens, all transportation comes to a stop. Drivers stop their cars wherever they may be, and get out of their vehicles, standing silently at attention. It is a solemn moment that one does not forget.

As a solemn service, Flowers and Sympatya will deliver a wreath of flowers on Holocaust Day to a cemetery gravesite in Israel.

Most of the larger cemeteries in Israel have special memorial gravestones to victims of the Holocaust. Sometimes the memorials are dedicated to specific cities and to specific Jewish congregations which were wiped out by the Nazis. Sometimes people buried in Israel request that the names of their relatives and family members killed in the Holocaust be inscribed on the sides of their gravestone as a personal memorial.

In previous years, people residing abroad have asked us to deliver flowers on Holocaust Day to specific gravesites or cemetery memorials. It is their way of remembering their relatives and loved ones who perished in Europe in those dark days, even though they cannot be here in person themselves.

We consider it our duty as Jews to carry out their wishes. We have one request though: In submitting your order, please try to supply us with the exact name and address of the cemetery where you want the flowers delivered, as well as the name and location within the cemetery of the memorial or gravestone.
CONTACT US:
Telefax: (972)-9-7717080
Mobile Phone: (972)-50-546516
Toll-Free Phone: 1-800-877 977 (Within Israel only)
E-Mail us at: [email protected]
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