Slichot for the 20 of Sivan in memory of the Holocaust – Budapest, May 1946 – A Fast for all Hungarian Jews ...

Slichot for the 20 of Sivan in memory of the Holocaust – Budapest, May 1946 – A Fast for all Hungarian Jews, Slichot and General Yahrzeit for the Destruction of the Communities during the Holocaust on the 20 of Sivan – an Unknown Historical Attempt – Rare
Following the terrible Holocaust, the need was felt to determine a memorial day and special prayers for generations to come. Before us is a first attempt to do so by the rabbis of Hungary.
Their dilemma was not an easy one: on one hand, the need for such a day. On the other, the understanding that it is problematic to add a special commemorative date to the Jewish calendar. This view was clarified among the Rishonim during the destruction of communities as a result of the Crusades (we learn this from the lamentations for Tisha Be'Av written then). The solution was to declare the 20 of Sivan as a memorial day since it was already declared as a memorial day for the communities destroyed during the Crusades and the Khmelnytsky Uprising (1648-49). Now it will be given a third meaning – in memory of the Holocaust. This day is most appropriate since "in this month, many killings took place". Thus, the day was declared a day of fast, Slichot were to be said and it will be a Yahrzeit for any person "who does not know when his father, mother and other relatives were brought to Auschwitz".
This solution is similar to that of the Chief Rabbinate two years later as regards the tenth of Tevet. On the tenth of Tevet, however, everyone needs to fast anyway; while here, it was a renovation of the rabbis that there should be a fast of the 20 of Sivan.
The introduction to the Slichot booklet specifies the customs of the day: "The 20 of Sivan is declared a day of fast for all Hungarian communities, men and women … from the age of fifteen to the age of fifty five... and he who feels weak, must ask a rabbi what to do … memorial prayers shall be said for all those who have been led by the evil persons and have not returned … but if a woman remained an Aguna and has not been released by a rabbinical court … Kadish cannot be said for him … until she is released from her marriage".
Condition: Good. The cover is detached from the book.