President of the Conference of European Rabbis, Chief Rabbi of Moscow

President of the Conference of European Rabbis, Chief Rabbi of Moscow Pinchas Goldschmidt

Sunday, Adar 28, 5774

To the majestic noble benefactor, the first and foremost among the righteous, Mr. German, the son of Rashbil Zakharyayev, may the Lord bless him

Blessing and peace and all the best

I want to express my opinion about your program regarding the celebration of the Day of the surrender of the Nazis, may their name and memory of them be erased, and they will be anathematized forever, on the 26th of Iyar 5705. Indeed, the peoples of the world celebrate this day on May 8 in the West and May 9 in the East. But your initiative proposes that the children of Israel in Israel and in all Diaspora countries celebrate this day on 26 Iyar in the future. You are no doubt aware that when, after the creation of the State of Israel, people wanted to celebrate the Holocaust, there was disagreement about when and how to celebrate the day. It was also proposed to make this day a fast, but, according to several great rabbis, including Khazon Ish (may the memory of the righteous be blessed), for a number of hidden and voiced reasons, this idea did not satisfy them. The Day of Universal Kaddish, established by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel for those who did not know when to pronounce Kaddish for their relatives, whose date of death was not known, eventually lost its relevance and was forgotten, since the generation of sons of the victims of the Holocaust has passed away.

Your initiative differs in its essence by proposing to turn this memorable date into the Day of Salvation and Liberation. Indeed, we find among religious authorities who determine the opinion of Jewish law on controversial or new issues, and, in particular, with Rabbi Abraham Danzig, author of the treatise "Hay-Adam", that those with whom the miracle happened, introduced "their" Purim at provided that the inhabitants of their cities and their descendants agreed to celebrate Purim in honor of the miracle. Thus, history acquaints us with more than two dozen different "Purim" celebrated by the Jewish people. For example, Saragossa Purim, Buda Purimdi, Cairo Purim, etc. - in memory of the salvation of the Jews of these communities from death, pogroms, forcible conversion to a foreign faith, burning, etc. I also saw how in the previous generation several rabbis decreed the celebration of Purim on the 4th day of the month of Elul, 5704 - the day when they were saved by the Red Army from destruction by the Nazis. However, I am not familiar with the communities that celebrate this day today.

At the same time, it is clear that in relation to European Jewry it is impossible and unworthy to celebrate this day, like, for example, the Victory Day of the Gentiles, since it was not Victory Day for us - it was the end of misadventures and destruction. We also lost over 6 million Jews - about a third of our people. Among those killed were some of the greatest authoritative theologians and Torah scholars, and therefore it would be obscene to give this Day of Liberation the status of a Purim holiday.

In any case, it is worth celebrating this day like the holiday of Passover, as liberation from slavery, as it is said: "He brought us out of slavery to freedom, from enslavement to release, from mourning to the holiday", despite the fact that tens of thousands of sons died there and the daughters of Israel. And for the few Jews who survived the Holocaust, this day became the day of liberation from the death camps and the exit from hiding to freedom, "and evil vanished like smoke, and even a dog will not move his tongue against Israel," and the allies condemned and punished these villains.

So there is certainly room for thanksgiving to the Almighty that he will be blessed that the wicked did not succeed in destroying us as they planned it. And if not for the victory of the Allied troops led by the army of the Soviet Union, where about 500,000 sons of our people served, of whom 200,000 fell in the battles for the liberation of Europe from Nazi enslavement, not a single living Jewish soul would have remained on the land of Europe.

Therefore, after the Jewish thinkers in our Holy Land approved this initiative, and I welcome it. It deserves to be celebrated every year on the 26th of Iyar with prayers and supplications and a little fun, so that future generations will also know about what happened to our people. And if this day falls on a Friday or Saturday, it is necessary to postpone the events to the Thursday preceding them, like Esther's fast. There is no reason not to anticipate the events and thereby prevent the violation of the Sabbath, which may be associated with the ongoing activities.

Also on this day, it will be worthy to open synagogues and carry out the solemn introduction of the Torah scrolls into them and consecrate the names of the saints (may the Almighty take revenge for their blood) in order to make up for the lost third of our people, destroyed during the Holocaust. I congratulate you and with God's help I ask my colleagues of European rabbis to join your initiative in all synagogues in Europe.

Best regards, Pinchas Goldschmidt

Chief Rabbi of Israel

Chief Rabbi of Israel David Lau

27 Adar-Aleph 5774

February 27, 2014

To Mr. German Gavriel Zakharyayev,

Peace and blessings.

69 years ago, 26 Iyar 5705, after stormy days and darkness on the Earth, with G-d's help and unlimited mercy, we managed to destroy the forces of Evil that destroyed half the world and murdered about 6 million of our brothers – the sons of Israel. This victory led to the liberation of Jews from the death camps, their exit from the underground and forests. Those who were hiding under false names could reveal their true colors that day and learn about their Jewishness.

The peoples of the world celebrated that day as a historic event. All over Europe celebrate this significant date - May 9th.

It is also symbolic that the Six Day War began on Iyar 26. And then we witnessed the salvation of the Most High.

And now you have conceived a good undertaking - to establish the Day of Prayer in accordance with the date of the Jewish calendar, and therefore I am writing this letter in support of your blessed initiative. And the Lord grant that prayers ascend to the Highest Will before G-d, who listens to prayer, Evil will be destroyed on Earth, and we will be rewarded with days when "The people will not raise the sword against the people, and they will no longer learn to fight."

Regards, David Lau, Chief Rabbi of Israel

Chief Rabbi of Russia

Chief Rabbi of Russia Berl Lazar

Shabbat Eve, Iyar 2, 5774

Greeting

The wisest of people King Shlomo said in his book Ecclesiastes: "And I saw the superiority of light over darkness."

The advantage of light becomes obvious and obvious precisely “over darkness”, in a state of darkness and loss of reference points. And the stronger the darkness, the more significant the light is.

In recent generations there has been no darkness more terrible than the terrible Holocaust to which the Jewish people suffered, which became one of the darkest pages of our history. However, it was precisely by being in a state of such darkness that we gained true understanding and the ability to appreciate light.

Every Jew who escaped from this hell, every ember that escaped complete burning, is a ray of light breaking through the darkness around it. In addition to the burning pain for those killed, together with prayers in memory of the perished holy Jews, we must thank the Creator for those whom He clearly miraculously saved, for those who, contrary to all logic, survived.

We are obliged to thank the Almighty for miracles, for those who rose from ashes and dust, for withered bones, at the will of the Creator, again covered with flesh, filled with spirit and gave birth to new generations, children and grandchildren.

Our sages tell in the Sanhedrin treatise that the Jewish king Hizkiyahu could become Moshiach, but Heaven opposed this, since he did not consider it necessary to thank the Almighty for the miracles performed by G-d. Unfortunately, he was not given to become a Deliverer.

Being surrounded by darkness, we must acknowledge the miracles that G-d has performed on our people, thank Him and sing about His glory.

Every Jew who escaped from the ravines of death, regardless of his position, is the perfect creation of the hands of God himself and is obliged to praise Him. It is said about every Jew: "Thy people are all righteous ... They are the sprout of My plantings, the creation of My hands, of which I am proud."

Every Jew, regardless of the degree to which he observes the prescriptions of the Torah, even if the fire of his soul has not yet flared up, even if his soul is still barely smoldering and is not at all visible, like a coal under a layer of ash, was created by the Creator: moreover, it was created for the sake of the Creator Himself.

The very existence of the Jewish people as a "lonely sheep among seventy wolves", surviving all the horrors of the Holocaust, is a living, visual miracle of the Creator and by its very existence speaks glory to G-d. The very presence of a Jew in the world is a story about the greatness of the Creator.

I want to bless our respected friend, always the first in good endeavors, Mr. German Gavriel Zakharyayev, and thank him for the initiative to establish Victory Day over the Nazis according to the Jewish calendar, Iyar 26, the day when the Soviet army crushed the Germans and led to the salvation of the Jewish people – Day of prayer and gratitude to the Creator of the Universe.

This collection of prayers, published under the title “To Give Thanks and Praise Your Great Name,” will help us to fulfill our responsibility to praise and give thanks to G-d.

May G-d grant that in the very near future we will be honored to sing to God the most important song in history, with the immediate arrival of complete and final Deliverance, which will take place in the very near future.

Berl Lazar, Chief Rabbi of Russia

Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel

With G-d's help

4 Adar-Aleph 5774

I welcome and support the blessed initiative of establishing the 26th day of the month of Iyar as a Day of prayer, thanksgiving, praise and glorification of the Creator for His many good deeds, for the fact that on this day the forces of Nazism were defeated, may they be cursed and anathema to eyelids of centuries. Forces that intended to destroy all Jews, children and women, but our G-d took pity on us and saved the surviving sons of Israel.

I have seen the prayers composed for the Day of Liberation and Victory; the treatise of request and thanksgiving, "Nishmat kol hai", the actual chapters of the Tehilim, and for this all who worked on this will be blessed.

The order of pronouncing the above wording should be strictly observed - only after pronouncing "We are obliged to praise" at the end of the prayer, and not in the middle, since the wording of the prayer that we say from day to day is related to the order of the worlds in accordance with Kabbalah, and therefore it cannot be changed.

So let us be grateful to our dear and noble friend, who did a lot for the Torah and its testimony, who does deeds and deeds for the common good, glorious among the pious, honorable benefactor, passionately loving the Torah and its sages, respected Mr. Herman Gabriel Zakharyaev, may he keep him L-rd, for his blessed initiative of organizing the day of confession, may the Almighty be blessed.

May God grant that the Almighty will heed our prayers, so that they will be rewarded with eternal redemption, now and in the near future.  Amen.

With the blessing of the Torah,

Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef

Chief Rabbi and Chairman of the Rabbinical Court of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Chairman of the Board of Yad Vashem

With G-d's help

8 Nisan 5774, 8 April 2014

On the 26th day of the month of Iyar 5705 - May 9, 1945 - the forces of the anti-fascist coalition defeated Nazi Germany. Since then, this date, May 9, has been set as Victory Day in World War II. All mankind celebrates this day as the day when the world sighed with ease, when the power of evil disappeared on Earth.

For the Jews of Europe, this victory came too late, after most of European Jewry had been destroyed. Smoke rose from the chimneys of the crematoria, and only traces of crime remained to tell about the horror.

We, the survivors of the Holocaust, remained the sufferers and wanderers - one from the city, two from the family - hungry, alone, deprived of everything. The world was celebrating Victory Day, and we mourned family and friends and the world that was destroyed.

Thanks to the Lord and His salvation, those who were saved rose from the ashes, girded their loins, built houses, and started families. Many of them were honored to repatriate to the homeland of our fathers. A respected benefactor, who did a lot for the Torah, Mr. German Gavriel Zakharyaev (may God keep him!) conceived a good deed: to establish the 26th day of the month of Iyar as a Day of prayer and thanksgiving for the fact that thanks to the Almighty it did not end our race, for His mercy is endless. I hasten to congratulate him and support his blessed initiative. This is another way of perpetuating the memory of the Holocaust and an important expression of gratitude to the Righteous Among the Nations and the soldiers who fought and defeated the Nazi monster.

May the Almighty help him to continue fulfilling the commandments and benefits several times more for the common good and for the benefit of every Jew, and so that success accompanies all his undertakings, and may the Almighty be with him.

With deep respect,

Rabbi Israel Meir Lau