Route 17:  Yom Hashoah Has A Rival

Most Jews don't know it yet, but next week's Jan. 27 is shaping up as the new Yom Hashoah, Holocaust memorial day. The old Yom Hashoah (usually in April, Nisan 27) hit an iceberg of indifference and is taking on water.

There is nothing more dramatic, or ritually more inspired, than Israel's Yom Hashoah siren that stops the country in its tracks, but here in the United States the keepers of the flame have done the one thing that almost defies discussion in polite company: They have made the Holocaust boring.

After 50 years of observance, the observance lacks widely accepted ceremony or structure.

The day itself is inherently boring. Unlike other holy days (the Temple actually burnt on the 9th of Av), nothing in particular happened on the 27th of Nisan.

The Holocaust has no shortage of memorable dates. Kristallnacht happened on November 9; Auschwitz was liberated on January 27; the war started on September 1; the Warsaw uprising began the eve of Passover, April 19; but nothing happened on Yom Hashoah that didn't happen the day before or six months after. If a camel is a horse by committee, Yom Hashoah is Judaism by committee, a Knesset committee. Back in 1951, when Yom Hashoah was created, the Warsaw Ghetto lobbyists wanted to link Yom Hashoah to the day of the uprising but the religious lobby -- speaking for most Israelis -- didn't want Yom Hashoah to collide with the Passover seder, and other lobbies had other days. So the committee selected a date that signified nothing but could win a vote.

Yom Hashoah now falls five days after Passover, which means most people have just lost several days of work and personal time to the holiday and have no interest, so soon, in yet another public  ceremonial situation, particularly one that is theologically and communally incoherent.

Meanwhile, the few other countries that cared started to accept Jan. 27, Auschwitz liberation day, as the defacto Yom Hashoah. The old Allies are proud of that day. The old survivors cherished that day all along. In 2005, the United Nations designated Jan. 27 as the international day for Holocaust memorials.

Even Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust museum and memorial authority, is falling in line, sending out press releases announcing that Yad Vashem "will be marking the third annual International Holocaust Remembrance Day in a variety of ways," which is Yad Vashem's way of telling Yom Hashoah, I like you as a friend but we ought to see other people.

Yom Hashoah was established to lead the parade. Now it's playing catch-up.

The United Nations, of all places, has figured out what the Jewish guardians of the Holocaust never could: a memorial day only has power if it's a day worth remembering.

I care about my dead parents but I don't light candles for them on dates they didn't die.

The community would quake if anyone suggested moving  Chanukah to July, or Thanksgiving to April. But admit it, dear reader, you wouldn't be disturbed in the least if Yom Hashoah moved to January, and that tells you all you need to know about how Yom Hashoah had its day - and lost it.

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