Rebbetzin Stefanik said in her Drasha at YU's graduation that now we are counting Omer where we mourn the 24,000 students of "Rabbi Akiva" who were *killed* and ever since then it has come to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust and other persecutions.
Hmmmmmmm. Not exactlllyyyyyy.
She obviously assumed that if a lot of Jews died in a short period it must be the big-bad-Goyim. It usually is:-).
Mussar Haskel: האומר יש חכמה בגויים - תאמין . אבל האומר יש תורה בגויים אל תאמין.
Notwithstanding - We are eternally grateful for all she does on behalf of Israel and the Jewish people!!!
And a shkoyach to YU's Nasi for not bending to the pressure of his left-wing professors who wanted her cancelled. When someone does so much on behalf of and puts their neck out for Am Yisrael we have to show Hakaras Ha-tov.
Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz said about Hakaras Ha-Tov - "כי זה כל האדם".