YOM HASHOAH--ISRAEL VS. GALUS: View From a Height puts the contrast this way:

Yom HaShoah, in Israel, is actually called Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Day. It, along with Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzmaut (stay tuned for next week) stress the importance of taking positive action, as a people and as individuals, to prevent evil and promote good. This means prayer and study, but also means picking up a gun and defending your country and your family. It is a message that is compatible with, but different from, the message of Tisha B'Av.

I'm afraid that the fact that Israel focuses on the Heroes and that American Jews tend to focus on the Martyrs says something unsettling about American Jewry - that we haven't really overcome the Galut, or Exile, mentality. That we are more comfortable seeing the world through the lens of victimhood than the lens of self-reliance. Which pretty much condemns us to relive that experience, too.

Read the whole thing.
[Hat tip: Boker Tov, Boulder]

When I was teaching in a Yeshiva Ketana, there was a special project for the 8th grade to write reports on various aspects of the Holocaust. One year, I got approval from the Principal to teach a mini-course about the history of modern Israel--but there were no textbooks available.

I think part of the reason is this Galus mentality.

Technorati Tag: Yom HaShoah.