A Prayer For Holocaust Memorial Day 2024: The Fragility of Freedom

The 27th of January is the day for everyone to remember the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust, and the millions of people killed under Nazi persecution, and in the genocides which followed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur. The 27th of January marks the liberation of Auschwitz Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp.

This year, the theme for Holocaust Memorial Day is the 'fragility of freedom'.

We have developed the following prayer to reflect this theme, and we encourage Christians especially to mark HMD with these words:

A Prayer For Holocaust Memorial Day 2024: The Fragility of Freedom

Eternal God, we come before you, conscious of the fragility of freedom, to remember the victims of the Holocaust.

We lament the loss of the six million Jews who were killed in the Holocaust, the millions of other victims of Nazi persecution, and victims of all genocides.

Remembering the past, help us today to use what freedom we have to stand up for those whose freedom is denied.

We pray for a day when all shall be free to live in peace, unity and love.

Amen.

For a Welsh language version of this prayer, please see below.

Gweddi ar gyfer Dydd Coffáu’r Holocost 2024: Bregusrwydd Rhyddid

27 Ionawr yw’r dydd i bawb gofio am y chwe miliwn o Iddewon a lofruddiwyd yn yr Holocost a’r miliynau o bobl a laddwyd gan ormes y Natsïaid, ynghyd â’r hil-laddiadau a ddigwyddodd wedyn yng Nghambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia a Darfur. Mae 27 Ionawr yn nodi gwaredigaeth Auschwitz Birkenau, gwersyll marwolaeth mwyaf y Natsïaid.

Eleni, y thema ar gyfer Dydd Coffáu’r Holocost yw ‘bregusrwydd rhyddid.’

Mae‘r Cyngor Cristnogion ac Iddewon wedi ysgrifennu’r weddi isod i adlewyrchu’r thema hon ac felly, gan ddilyn yr arweiniad hwn, mae’r Eglwys yng Nghymru yn annog Cristnogion i nodi Dydd Coffáu’r Holocost drwy arfer y geiriau hyn:

Gweddi ar gyfer Dydd Coffáu’r Holocost 2024: ‘Bregusrwydd Rhyddid.’

Dduw tragwyddol, deuwn ger dy fron, yn ymwybodol bod rhyddid yn beth bregus, er mwyn cofio am bawb a ddioddefodd yn yr Holocost.

Galarwn y golled o’r chwe miliwn o Iddewon a laddwyd yn yr Holocost, y miliynau o bobl eraill a ddioddefodd dan ormes y Natsïaid, ynghyd â phawb sydd wedi dioddef yn sgil hil-laddiadau eraill.

Wrth i ni gofio am y gorffennol, cynorthwya ni heddiw i arfer y rhyddid sydd gennym i amddiffyn y rhai y cymerir eu rhyddid oddi arnynt.

Gweddïwn am ddydd pan fydd pawb yn rhydd i fyw mewn tangnefedd, undod a chariad.

Amen.  

For more information, please visit CCJ website HERE.

The Council of Christians and Jews (CCJ) Study Tour to Poland for Christian Leaders

The Council of Christians and Jews (CCJ) are currently leading a group of senior Christians leaders on a unique study tour to Poland, in partnership with Taube Jewish Heritage Tours. The programme explores the history of Jewish life in the country, before, during and after the Second World War – a journey which is taking us from Warsaw to Lodz, Krakow, and Auschwitz-Birkenau.

CCJ have gathered a group of Christian leaders from across the UK to take part in this journey. The participants are all leaders in their communities, including Bishops and Ministers, Trustees, Chaplains, and Theologians. They have wide and varied spheres of influences across Christian communities. Denominations within the group include the United Reformed Church, the Church of England, the Roman Catholic Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Church of Scotland, the Methodist Church, and the Church of God of Prophecy.

This programme has several aims. Firstly, this programme seeks to educate participants about Jewish life in Poland before, during, and after the Second World War. Tragically, at the heart of this history is the Holocaust. We have been visiting sites related to the Shoah, including ghettos, deportation stations and on Thursday 26th October we will visit Auschwitz-Birkenau. We are also exploring the 1000 years of Jewish history in Poland, looking at the rich history of Jewish life which was lost in the Holocaust, and celebrating contemporary Jewish life by visiting synagogues, Jewish community centres and participating in a Shabbat meal in Krakow on Friday 27th October.

The second aim is to learn about Christian-Jewish relations in Poland. We are exploring the history of Christian-Jewish relations in the country, and discussing how this is relevant for understanding the Holocaust. Through meeting with senior Christian and Jewish leaders, including the Chief Rabbi of Poland (whom we met on Tuesday 24th October), we are discussing contemporary challenges in Christian-Jewish relations as well as positive examples of interfaith engagement which seek to overcome centuries of Christian persecution of Jews.

The final aim is to explore contemporary issues in Poland. We are uncovering how the memory of the Holocaust intersects with other contemporary issues, particularly around identity-based discrimination and the curation of memory. We will ask how Poland maintains the memory of the Holocaust, and how is this framed.

Through this programme, we hope that the participants will be equipped with a deeper appreciation and understanding of Jewish life and identity, a detailed knowledge of the events of the Holocaust, and that they will be inspired to foster positive interfaith relations between Christians and Jews back home in the UK.

This programme sits at the heart of CCJ’s mission and values.

The Council of Christians and Jews was founded in 1942, at the height of the Second World War and the Holocaust, by Archbishop William Temple and Chief Rabbi Joseph Hertz. Today we are the leading nationwide forum for Christian-Jewish engagement.

For over 80 years, we have been engaging Jewish and Christian communities across the UK in education, dialogue, and social change. We aim to celebrate the history and diversity of both communities, to enable meaningful educational experiences, to facilitate constructive dialogue, and provide opportunities for transformative social change.

Today, CCJ is the only organisation in the UK which provides Holocaust education tailored specifically for the Christian community. By learning about the Holocaust and equipping church leaders to be witnesses to the devastations of the Holocaust and bring this back to their communities. We aspire to commemorate the past and transform Christian-Jewish relations for the future.

We are conscious of the vital importance of this work at a time where interfaith relations are being strained by violence throughout the world. The need to learn from the past, to listen to ‘the other’, and for people of faith to walk together remains as vital as ever.

We are grateful to the generosity of our funders for this programme, and without them it would not have been possible: the Claims Conference, the Association of Jewish Refugees, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain, and the United Reformed Church Interfaith Fund.

For more information about the work of CCJ please visit here.

Photo credit to CCJ.

CCJ Explainer on ‘Christian Seders’ launched on 29 March 2023

Pesach (Passover) and Holy Week are two highly significant festivals for Jews and Christians, respectively, and which overlap next week. At the Council of Christians and Jews, we often encounter Christians who wish to know more about Pesach and its connection to the Easter story (especially in relation to the Last Supper). To help provide some context, we have developed this brief ‘explainer’. As well as highlighting some of the background to Pesach and the Seder meal, we want to explain why we think holding ‘Christian Seders’ is not a good idea for churches.

The brief resource, launched today, can be found here.

It’s also pinned to our Twitter:

https://twitter.com/CCJUK

and can found on our FB page:

https://www.facebook.com/TheCCJUK/

For more information, email CCJ Senior Programme Manager James Roberts on James.Roberts@ccj.org.uk.