Download: UJH-2014-0803-Tisha B’Av Tisha B’Av is a fast day that commemorates the destruction of the two Temples in ancient times, as well as more recent tragedies befalling the Jewish people. It is sometimes referred to as “The Ninth of Av, since it falls on the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av. On the secular calendar it usually coincides with late July or mid-August. Tisha B’Av vividly recalls devastating tragedies in Jewish history, so it is known as the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. The first great tragedy occurred in 586 B.C.E. when the Babylonians sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the First Temple built by King Solomon, the most important place in ancient Judaism. The Temple was re-built on the site of the First Temple, and completed in 516 B.C.E. This second temple was destroyed during the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. The destruction of the two Temples took place on the same day — the ninth of Av — about 656 years apart. These two events were so devastating that the ancient rabbis declared the anniversary of the Temples’ destruction a day of mourning. This is the origin of Tisha B’Av. Other tragedies have occurred on this […]

Babyn Yar is a ravine on the outskirts of Kyiv that has become a symbol of the Holocaust. There more than 100 thousand perished during the Nazi occupation, including 40,000 Jews. Babyn Yar was first mentioned in historical accounts in 1401, in connection with its sale by a “baba” (which means an old woman), to the Dominican Monastery. Over the course of several centuries, the site was used for various purposes including military camps and at least two cemeteries, among them an Orthodox Christian cemetery and a Jewish cemetery. The latter was officially closed in 1937. On September 19, 1941 the Nazis occupied Kyiv. Ten days later, on Yom Kippur, they began the mass murder of Jews at Babiy Yar. The city’s Jews obeyed a Nazi order to assemble there, expecting to be deported, as Nazi propaganda intended. According to German records, in just two days nearly thirty four thousand Jews were killed. The killing continued for months. The majestic ravine quickly became a mass burial site of Jews, Gypsies, Ukrainians, Russians, Hungarians, and others …civilian hostages, prisoners of war, patriots and partisans, including Ukrainian Nationalists. The Nazis spared no one … not children, the elderly, nor pregnant women. Patients […]

The Tkuma Ukrainian Institute for Holocaust Studies in Dnipropetrovsk contains a number of materials concerning “Righteous among the Nations”. This honorary title is given to the people of different nations who rescued Jews during WWII, from 1939 to 1945. The procedure is monitored by Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, a special committee established at the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority. Among the materials at Tkuma is the tremendous heroic story of Lidia Kotliarevska, who rescued Jews during the Nazi occupation of Dnipropetrovsk. Lidia Kotliarevska had been involved in an underground organization and had worked as a nurse in German hospital. She carried out her underground activity jointly with Boris Sondak, a Ukrainian Jew who she hid in her flat. Sondak was responsible for blowing up a bridge on the Dnipro River to halt the progress of the Nazis. In 1942 he and his comrades were arrested and executed. During the Dnipropetrovsk occupation she also sheltered a Jewish family, Tatiana Rabovskaya and her sons Viktor and Nikolay. The older son cared for his younger brother and Lidia’s young daughter Aleksandra. In November 2002 Yad Vashem notified Lidia Kotliarevska that she had received the honorary title of Righteous among the Nations for […]