1.
On this sacred day, we do not need to remember; we are the memory itself. It was upon us that the action took place. Here rise all of our dead from their graves, all of our fallen and murdered ones, those who came through fire and water, prisoners of poverty and iron, and receive the new arrivals at their gates – the dead of the celebrations and the scorched fields, those burned of homes and hope. They comfort them and sit with them on the land "for seven full days and seven nights," and none speaks a word to them, for they see that "the pain is too great" (Job 2:13).
As the sacred day cloaks us, the memory intensifies and floods our days and dreams, touches our eternal fears, gods rise up to us from the depths of our souls, from the celebrations of our joys, from casual utterances of "good morning" and from the embrace of children at their departure, carrying the bags in which we invested our worries and the beating of our hearts.
As the day enshrouds us like a prayer shawl upon our mourning heads, we will gather our tears into a great bundle of longing, and weep over the missed moment and the hesitations, over the torments of the soul and the accounts of the era, over Jews who a moment before their ascent to the heavens by the cursed gas, still insisted on arguing fervently in the fire of dispute, tapping one another's chests crying "You are guilty!", and did not know, did not know that evil lurked at their doorstep at every moment.
2.
As the sacred day descends upon our land, we will remember the first lesson arising and shining in red-gold letters of the blood of our people: "Never again!" No more will we flee from our enemies and hide in caves and rocks and pits and closets, clutching the doorknob with all our might lest the wicked enter our room. No more will we remain silent in the face of human defilers violating our bodies and laughing at our captivity, boasting of murdering Jews, no. "And no expiation can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it" (Numbers 35:33). This time in history, blood will be answered with blood.
3.
And as the sacred day departs, for evening shadows have fallen, we will learn and remember that the bloody lesson does not end with the one tenet of "not another Holocaust" – it is not worthy for us to conclude our heavy burden of memory with that alone. "Why did the Holocaust happen?" they always asked me in Italy, "Why was the expulsion of the Jews carried out?" "Very simple," I would reply: "Because they could do it to us!" At that time, the Jewish people lacked a national home, and we all know the perilous fate of the homeless, subject to the whims of tyrants and criminals. Therefore, the additional lesson arising and shining in blue and white letters is: "No more exile!" No more guests for a moment or two, a hundred years or two hundred in foreign lands, consuming our days building kingdoms not called by our name, hoping that one day they will acknowledge and bless the contribution of the Jews to humanity.
4.
Look to our dear ally, the homeland of hope, "the land of the free and the home of the brave." Jews were expelled from universities for the sin of their Jewishness by rioters praising and glorifying the new Nazis who murdered, raped, and burned alive our children, wives, and elders. They wave their flag and don uniforms matching those who had been worn by our murderers on the day of the massacre.
It is doubtful whether there are other people whose sons and daughters have contributed so greatly to the development and advancement of these world centers of knowledge and science, and now they are being beaten and cursed there by an incited rabble, while a significant portion of the professors at those universities identifies with the rioters.
And what is happening in Europe, the old continent, less than eighty years after the catastrophe? Once again, Jews are afraid for their lives and hiding their identity lest they be devoured. And in the halls of international justice sit the robed ones, threatening to outlaw Jews for the unforgivable sin: for going out to defend their land against those who sought to commit genocide against us once again.
5.
Our brothers and sisters, Jews of the world, you have nothing to seek outside. Leave the exile. Do not wait for the last moment. Return home to the desired land of the forefathers. And even if it is difficult and the price is heavy, we remember that the cost of living without an independent state is incomparably heavier. Come to the land of Israel. Make Aliya. We are waiting for you.
