On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we must say “Never Again.” | Opinion

Never again.

These two words are at the center of Holocaust Education. Never again.

This Thursday, Conrad Weiner, a survivor of the Holocaust, gave testimony at the University of Kentucky, as part of Holocaust Education and Remembrance Week. I brought my children to witness this rare opportunity. My 7-year old daughter asked me, “What does never again mean?”

Jan. 27 is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. It’s a day set aside to remember the unique evil of the Holocaust, of the attempt by the Nazis and their allies to eradicate the Jewish people, and their murder of six million Jews. The day chosen is very deliberate. It is not the anniversary of Kristalnacht, often cited as the start of the Holocaust, or Babi Yar, one of the largest mass killings. Rather, Jan. 27 is the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp.

The United Nations chose the day that Jews were liberated by Allied Forces. They chose the day when the world finally took action to stop the Holocaust.

At the heart of Holocaust education is not a history lesson, it’s a morality lesson. When we recite never again, we don’t mean never again will there be concentration camps. Sadly, it doesn’t mean that never again will Jews be assaulted, murdered, or pursued.

Never again means never again will the world stand idly by as evil rages. Never again will the world look the other way when Jews are slaughtered.

Holocaust education is not a history lesson but a morality lesson.

The words “Never Again” have an entirely new urgency in the wake of the Oct. 7 massacres.

Twelve hundred Jews were slaughtered. Civilians were burnt alive and decapitated, women were raped, and infants were brutalized. 240 innocents were kidnapped, and 138 are still being held, including a 9 month old baby.

Shockingly, these atrocities were not met with silence but with cheers. Rallies in support of Hamas, who call for the death of every Jew on earth, took place in London, Berlin, and Paris.

In Sydney, they chanted “Gas the Jews”, while in New York, the swastika was displayed alongside posters calling for genocide.

Here in Kentucky, within hours of the massacre, rallies in support of Hamas were organized at the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville. Flyers praising the perpetrators of the heinous crimes were posted around campus, and as first responders worked to save lives and identify bodies, celebratory slogans were chanted, with calls for further violence. Since Oct 7, Kentucky and the world has seen a massive rise in antisemitic incidents.

As we mark the moral lesson of International Holocaust Day we must say together: “Never Again.”

Never again will we turn a blind eye. Never again will we allow antisemitism to rage unchecked.

Never again is now. When my daughters asked me the meaning of “Never Again,” I shared with them the words of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the foremost Jewish leader of the modern era, who pointed out that Germany in the 1930s was the most educated nation on earth. It was the home of Ernst and Einstein, of Wagner and Klimt.

Education alone is not enough. Education must include a foundation of morality.

As we mark Holocaust Remembrance Day, we must recommit to teaching the morals that are too often missing on our college campuses, institutions of learning, as rallies of hate take place.

We must champion efforts like those in the Kentucky State House, in HB 96, to create a moment of silence for students in the commonwealth, to introduce mindful thought and values into the classroom.

We must each raise our collective voices, and do our part to build a society and a moral education system in which Never Again is a reality.

On this Holocaust Remembrance Day, we must personally and communally assert Never Again is now.

Rabbi Shlomo Litvin is chair of the Kentucky Jewish Council and director of the Chabad Center of the Bluegrass.