Jewish veterans of the Red Army gathered in Times Square in New York

Photo: Shahar Azran

More 50 veterans of Jewish nationality from New York, who fought as part of the Soviet Red Army in World War II, gathered today in Times Square to celebrate Jewish Victory Day date. Local rabbis and leaders of the New York Jewish community joined the veterans.

The festivities were organized by the American Forum of Russian-speaking Jewry (AFRJ) and the World Zionist Organization (WSO) with the support of the STMEGI Foundation.

“As Jews, we are proud of the date of this historic holiday in honor of the day of the great victory over evil,” said Boris Feldman, 94, of Brooklyn, who served in the Red Army for two years after being liberated from the ghetto. “It is important to remember the end of the Holocaust, but at the same time we must remain vigilant even today. Jewish communities around the world feel increasingly threatened by the rise of anti-Semitism,” Feldman said.

Boris Feldman. Photo: Shahar Azran

Israel officially recognized the celebration of Victory Day in 2000. Worldwide, there are about 1,6 millions of Jews, immigrants from the former Soviet Union,

Photo: Shahar Azran

Last year, 26, the month of Iyar, became the official date of the Jewish calendar as the Day of Liberation and Salvation of European Jewry. Then it was first celebrated in the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem and in UN Headquarters in New York. The date was not chosen by chance: according to the Jewish calendar, in 1945, 26, Iyar's day fell right on May 9, that is, those who live according to the Jewish calendar link the end of a terrible war to this day.

The initiative to establish a new date came from Russia - from German Zakharyayev, a prominent Jewish philanthropist, president of the International Charitable Foundation for the Preservation of the Culture and Traditions of Mountain Jews, and Vice-President of the Russian Jewish Congress.

The main meaning of 26 Iyar is not to let the world forget about how terrible evil was fascism and who defeated this evil, not to let those people who freed the world from the plague of Nazism at the cost of their lives.

The initiative was supported by the chief rabbis of Israel. Today, additional prayers will be read in the synagogues. In the synagogues they will thank, praise and glorify the Creator for defeating the forces of Nazism on this day and thus the Jewish people were saved from total annihilation, and also to praise the liberators of the Red Army and allied armies.