Tenth of Tevet, the Holocaust and Soviet Jewry

Memorial service on Mount Zion in Jerusalem for the 6-million who perished through the hands of Hitler. Credit: Hugo Mendelson, Israeli Government Press Office, January 5, 1954

The Tenth of Tevet is a Jewish fast day which marks the beginning of the siege on Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians. But it also served as Holocaust memorial day before Yom HaShoah and was used to protest unfair treatment of Russian Jews during the Soviet era. Learn about the Chamber of the Holocaust on Mount Zion, Rabbi Mordechai Nurock who initiated Holocaust commemoration in Israel, and how this minor fast day had major implications for keeping memory alive.

Memorial plaques for victims near the entrance to the Cave of the Holocaust on Mt. Zion. Credit: Moshe Milner, GPO

Memorial Chamber for the victims of the concentration camps in the cave of the Holocaust. Note the 31-branched menorah. Credit: Moshe Milner, GPO.

Memorial service for the martyrs of the Ghetto of Warsaw on Mt. Zion, in Jerusalem. Credit: Hugo Mendelson, GPO, January 5, 1954.

NOTES:

• Biography of Rabbi Mordechai Nurock

• Rabbi Lau at Tenth of Tevet Holocaust Memorial - 2023

• Memorial Services for -killed Jews Held in Israel - 1950

• Israel Parliament Fixes Annual Memorial Day for Victims of - 1951

• 6,000-10,000 Jews, Non-Jews, Whites, Blacks, Hold Demonstration in Foley Square 1970

• British Jews Observe Day of Fast; 2,500 Jewish Women in Silent March - 1971

• The First Yom HaShoah

• Desecrated Holy Scrolls in Roumania Are Interred at Private Ceremonies - 1928

• Tenth of Tevet - Asarah B’Tevet - Jewish Virtual Library