Six Million Holocaust Martyrs To Be Remembered

Northwest CT: As Yom Kippur — the Jewish community’s day of atonement — closes, Chabad of Northwest Connecticut will dedicate the day’s final service to the Six Million Jewish victims murdered during the Holocaust. The final service of Yom Kippur, which is the holiest day of the Jewish year, is called Neilah

(Hebrew for “closing”). As the afternoon wanes and the evening approaches, Jewish worshippers offer their final plea to G-d for forgiveness. By invoking the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust, the community also pays homage to so many Jewish souls lost during one of modern history’s greatest tragedies.

Rabbi Eisenbach will lead Neilah at the new Chabad Center future home of the future CT Holocaust Museum (former Methodist Church) at 69 West Street in Litchfield at 5:30 pm on Thursday September 16th. In his opening remarks, Rabbi Eisenbach will include stories of sacrifice from the Holocaust. All community members who wish to attend Neilah are welcome to join. RSVP required: chabadNW.org/newyou

Neilah is the worldwide Jewish community’s last chance to be “sealed in the proverbial Book of Life,” and many of its prayers invoke martyrs throughout Jewish history, with the hope that G-d will judge the community favorably in light of the dedication that these martyrs had to their religion and people. The service includes the Avinu Malkeinu (Our Father, our King) prayer, and ends with a final blast of the shofar that also signifies the conclusion of Yom Kippur.

“The community’s main goal during Neilah is to be sealed in the Book of Life for the coming year — to have a life filled with health, happiness and a meaningful relationship with G-d,” said Rabbi Eisenbach, who will lead the Neilah service. “By paying homage to those who made the ultimate sacrifice during the Holocaust, we are hoping that just as they sanctified G-d’s name with their deaths, so, too, may we sanctify G-d’s name in our lives this year.”

The Neilah service is the most intense and most moving of Yom Kippur’s services. By remembering the Holocaust during Neilah, we can connect that intensity and meaning to one of the most tragic, yet most significant, events in Jewish history.

For decades, Chabad-Lubavitch, an international Jewish organization that firmly believes Jewish traditions and customs is a birthright of every Jew and that every Jew should have access to them, has made High Holiday services available free of charge, a model other synagogues and organizations around the world are now looking at to replicate. Neilah is one of many Chabad holiday programs that offer Jews the opportunity to perform Jewish holiday rituals and remember their ancestors.

For more information about Chabad of Northwest Connecticut’s services, to see a full schedule of services, or to reserve a space, visit chabadNW.org/newyou or call 860.567.3377.