“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.” Isa 40:1

ANNUAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY BEGINS IN ISRAEL: The official Opening Ceremony for Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day took place on Sunday 23 April 2017, at 8 pm at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. Dignitaries spoke, and six Holocaust survivors lit torches in memory of the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis. The “Holocaust” refers to the period from 30 January 1933, when Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, to 8 May 1945, the end of the war in Europe. Millions of Jewish men, women, and children were murdered by Hitler and his brutal cohorts during this time. While it is impossible to ascertain the exact number of Jewish victims six million is the round figure. Auschwitz concentration camp was a network of concentration and death camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II. Buchenwald was a German Nazi concentration camp established near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937, one of the first and largest of the concentration camps on German soil. It was in holes such as these that Jewish victims were starved, tortured, subjected to slave labor, beatings, inhumane medical experiments and murdered in gas chambers by the millions. Elderly Holocaust survivors in Israel suffer mental and physical torments to this day. Their children bear traumatic scars as a result of being raised by such emotionally and physically shattered parents. (JNN/Ynet)

Pray that this deeply needy and still emotionally-tormented segment of Israel’s society will be comforted, cheered and receive provision so desperately needed to live and finish their lives with dignity and honor.

COMPTROLLER: STATE OVERLOOKING HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS: State Comptroller Yosef Shapira days ago published a special report prior to Holocaust Remembrance day on the matter of state assistance to Holocaust survivors. Shapira said that at present there are 158,000 Israeli citizens eligible for benefits as sufferers of Nazi persecution as well as 56,000 more citizens who suffered anti-Semitic and racist attacks during World War II.

Their average age is 85 and every month about 1000 of them pass away. The report stated that the legislation applying to survivors is complex and changes from time to time in a disorganized fashion. Most of the survivors do not know how to search for information on the Internet and are not proficient in Hebrew and therefore do not understand their rights. Most of the Holocaust survivors who arrived in the 90s from the former Soviet republic do not have pensions or any other economic base besides minimal government allocations. This sector, representing a quarter of Holocaust survivors, is not heard from and they live in poverty. Many of the aging survivors require help as their residences are not suitable for them in their present state. The Authority has no comprehensive data about the places of residence of the survivors and doesn’t know how many are waiting for public housing. The comptroller also touched upon other issues, including the need to establish proper social infrastructure for Holocaust survivors as well as providing welfare services, health care and social activities which could mitigate the loneliness suffered by many survivors. The comptroller concluded that despite the fact that governmental and non-governmental sources are working to fill the gaps in various aspects of life for which survivors require assistance, there is a need for a guiding hand from above for all of the activities and this must be provided immediately. (Arutz-7)