Kiddushin a Service for Yom Hashoah
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Traditional Jewish theological frameworks falter when confronted with the immensity of Holocaust remembrance, necessitating new approaches to ritual commemoration. "Kiddushin," a liturgical service for Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), addresses this theological crisis by reimagining how Jewish communities can engage with divine-human relationships in the wake of unprecedented suffering. Building on Rabbi Neil Gillman's framework of myth, suffering, and divine presence, the service deliberately avoids paradigms that either blame victims or transform their suffering into instruments of meaning. Instead, it creates a polyphonic spiritual space where classical and contemporary Jewish sources converse, revealing multiple theological perspectives on God's relationship with Israel. Like traditional Jewish practices such as havdalah, the service weaves together textual citations and ritual actions to generate meaning beyond individual components. This careful integration of historical Holocaust narratives with religious significance preserves victims' experiences while creating space for contemporary theological reflection. While not proposed as a universal solution, this ritual offers a model for Holocaust commemoration that balances the imperative of historical memory with the search for religious meaning in a post-Holocaust world.

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Published 2008-2009
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David Freidenreich