Everyone commemorates 'Holocaust Day,' and I want to specifically commemorate 'the day after Holocaust Day.'.
This is the day that will actually prove to us that the Holocaust is indeed in our minds, in our thoughts, and in our heads.
The day after.
It's not wise to cry when the descriptions are in the air. When Mrs. Hannah tells how the dogs were sent after her and drank her blood, and when Rabbi Avraham describes the Nazi atrocities committed against his sons, his little children.
It's not wise to shed a tear when the survivors themselves are standing right in front of our eyes, waiting to tell, to speak, to convey things before it's too late.
It is not enough that we grieve over the deaths of our grandparents, our parents' uncles and their cousins, as they stand behind the door, warning and knocking: "The day of the Holocaust has come and is coming.".
The victims and survivors should be in our minds at all times.
They have suffered enough for us to bear the burden with them.
They were oppressed to the point of being crushed, so they deserve to at least have many more days in our hearts than just one day called 'Holocaust Day.'.
They were completely righteous, whose good deeds certainly protect us and will continue to protect our children.
And they ordered our lives. That's exactly how it is.
Can all of this be summed up in one day? On Holocaust Day?
Of course not.
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We did well to continue calling our children by their names and not be tempted to switch to more Israeli names.
We did well to name many of our streets after people and Hasidism from that world...
We did well to hang their portraits on the walls of our house -
But all this is not enough.
Today we still have the opportunity, the possibility, and the ability to give them back in kind. To prove to them that we didn't just stay alive.
Decide to take responsibility for one of them and keep visiting them. Help one of them with their livelihood.
To ask ourselves from this day, the day after Holocaust Remembrance Day - and every night before bed: "What did we do today for the holy Holocaust survivors?""
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''The day after' is the day that will tell us how much we truly internalize, or perhaps, God forbid, are content with shedding a tear when the horrible description is played from radios of all kinds, or through any other means of communication.
''The day after' is the real day.
It is the day that will tell us who we really are, and how much we love to bury our past in the ground, and to place a strong rock on the grave, which only the horror stories of the next Holocaust Memorial Day will be able to move from its place and reveal what lies beneath it for just one more day.
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