Glossary:
"V"

Va'ad Ha-Hazalah

Jewish rescue committees that functioned in different countries in Europe during the Holocaust

Va'ad Le'ummi

The national council of the Jewish community in Palestine during the British Mandate.

Valley of Tears

A stretch of valley in the northern Golan Heights where an Israeli force of 100 tanks was decimated by the invading Syrian army in 1973. Only seven tanks survived, but they continued to fight. Thanks to similar courage in the southern Golan, the Syrians were routed within four days and nearly 600 Syrian tanks were left in ruins in the Valley of Tears.

Vanunu Affair

In 1986, former nuclear researcher Mordechai Vanunu revealed information about Israel’s nuclear program and was tried and imprisoned for 18 years for treason.

Vayikrah

(Heb. and He called) The third book of the Torah (Leviticus).

Venice Declaration

Declaration of the European Council on the Middle East in June 1980. They laid out in detail that the European Economic Committee believes in the right to existence and security of all states in the Middle East and justice for all peoples.

Vernichtungslager

Death (or extermination) camp, used for murdering Jews and other “racial undesirables.”

Vespasian, Titus Flavius

(c. 9-79 CE) Roman general appointed as a commander of the army with the duty of crushing the Jewish revolt. Vespasian suppressed the resistance in the Galilee, then proclaimed the Roman Emperor in 69 CE and appointed his son Titus as a commander.

Village League

In 1977, Israel encouraged the formation of the Village League to promote alternative Palestinian leadership of the civil, economic, and social life of the West Bank and Gaza.

Vilna Gaon

(1720-1797) Elijah ben Solomon Zalman; major scholar and Jewish intellectual leader; sage of the Mitnagg'dim (anti-Hasidim); Lithuania.

Vilna Ghetto

On June 24, 1941, the Germans occupied Vilna which had been a Soviet Republic just prior to the invasion. A series of anti-Jewish decrees followed. Jews were ordered to wear the yellow star front and back. Certain streets were out-of -bounds, shopping was restricted and a curfew imposed. A Judenrat was established.

Volcano Operation

On November 2, 1955, Israel attacked As-Sabha on the Egyptian side of the Al-Auja Demilitarized Zone.

Volk

“People” — In Nazi times, took on a more defined meaning: People joined by blood.

Volkdeutscher

A Nazi term for a person of German ancestry living outside of Germany. They did not have German or Austrian citizenship as defined by the Nazi term Reichsdeutscher. Nazi Germany made great efforts to enlist the support of the Volksdeutshe, who constituted minorities in several countries. Nazi Germany received support from the Volksdeutsche; hundreds of thousands joined the German armed forces,including the SS.

Volkswagen

People's car — Hitler wanted to make a cheap car for the lower class Germans.

Volksgemeinschaft

People's community — A community united by common German blood; i.e., no more social groups (communists, Jews, political parties, Catholics, Homosexuals, Jehovah witnesses).

Vort

Explanation, discourse, opinion.

Vulgate

From Latin, common, popular. The official Roman Catholic Latin version of the Bible, prepared or edited by Jerome (Hieronymus) around the year 400 C.E. See also Septuagint.