TEL AVIV — On Wednesday, Israel observed Yom Hashoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day. It is one of the most important days on the country’s calendar, observed with innumerable ceremonies and gatherings. At many of these, a motto will be recited: “To remember, not to forget.”

Of course, in Israel no one forgets. One reason is that in this country, the Holocaust is not merely a matter of historical remembrance. It is part of our present. Many of Israel’s founders believed the Jewish state was necessary because the Jewish people would always be under the threat of destruction, others could not be relied upon to protect the Jews, and the preservation of the Jewish people required a country of their own. Or, to put it with typical Israeli directness, “to rely only on ourselves.”

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