Liturgy for Christian Schools -
Commemorative Ritual for Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day

Collected by members of the Seattle Archdiocese

Symbolic Lighting of the Candles

Today we light six candles to remember the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust. We also light a seventh candle in remembrance of our liberators, rescuers, and the others who were victims of the Third Reich. Our eighth candle is a candle for humanity; with this candle we pray for future peace and understanding between peoples.

The Service of Yom Hashoah begins with the following recitation:

The ark of Torah, of faith, of learning,
stands empty and bereft.
We have come here to remember those who cannot be forgotten.
We have come to speak of that which cannot be spoken but cannot be left unsaid.
We know how to remember the dead we have known.
We know how to commemorate the death of one person.
But all of us are mourners; all of us recall not one but six million ones.
Not only those we have known, but those no one can know, the names that are forever lost.
*The Shoah Scroll by Rabbi Reuven Hammer

Reading

Leader: May we listen to the Gospel of Matthew and remember as children of God we are to be a Beatitude people, a people called to stand up for all of humanity. We are all God’s children, and as children we are all brothers and sisters. May we continue to speak and act against all violations of human dignity.

Matthew 5:1-12
“Seeing the crowds, he went up onto the mountain. And when he was seated his disciples came to him. Then he be began to speak. This is what he taught them:

The Beatitudes
How blessed are the poor in spirit: the kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
Blessed are the gentle: they shall have the earth as inheritance.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness: for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful: They shall have mercy shown them Blessed the pure in heart: they for shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: They shall be recognized as children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Teacher or Leader: In the name of the holocaust victims may we speak up for human rights of all people.

All respond: We pray to the Lord

(Each student will have a name or list of names of Holocaust victims and an unlit candle. Each student will come up individually and light their candle from the Humanity Candle and then read their name or list of names.)

After the student finishes his/her name/names, the student will say: “Help us stand up humanity of all peoples.”

All respond: Lord God hear our prayer.

Leader: We remember the six million by reciting the Kaddish, the traditional Jewish prayer for the dead. The Kaddish is a prayer in praise of God and is an affirmation of life.

This is not a funeral hymn but an affirmation of God’s everlasting Presence, praising God’s existence and creative love. It is in this of the spirit that we pray the Kaddish remembering the victims of the Holocaust. We also pray for the survivors, whose faith in like enabled them to rebuild in other countries their shattered lives, their destroyed worlds. Joining together they brought about new life, they raised new families with an invincible hope. In the spirit life-giving hope and faith we pray today. Leader: All stand for the reading of the Kaddish*.

Reader: Holy and enhanced may God be throughout the world. May God’s sovereignty soon be accepted, during our life and the life of all Israel. And let us say: Amen.

All: May God be praised throughout all time.

Reader: Glorified and celebrated, lauded and praised, acclaimed and honored, extolled and exalted may the Holy one be, far beyond all song and psalm, beyond all tributes which humanity can utter.

All: Let there be abundant peace form Heaven, with life’s goodness for us and for all the people Israel. And let us say: Amen.

Reader: God who brings peace to the universe well bring peace to us, to humanity, and to Israel. And let us say: Amen.

All: Exalted, compassionate God, grant perfect peace in your sheltering Presence, among the holy and the pure, to the soul of all the men, women and children of the house of Israel, to the Righteous Gentiles, to the millions who died defending the right to be different, at a time of madness and terror. May their memory endure, may it inspire truth and loyalty in our lives, in our religious commitment and tasks. May their memory be a blessing and sign of peace for all humanity. And let us say all together: Amen.

(You may be seated)

Leader: We end our prayer by reciting together the words found on the walls of a cellar Cologne, Germany, where Jews hid fro the Nazis: All: I believe, I believe in the sun even when it is not shinning. I believe in love even when feeling it not. I believe in God even when God is silent.

(A short period of silence.)

Leader: We have proclaimed together our faith in the One God, and Nurturer of us all. May we close our prayer by extending a sign of hope for peace and a pledge of respect, and dignity for all people.

All: Share the sign and Shalom!

*Eugene J. Fisher and Leon Klenicki