I wasn’t aware there was either an annual Day of Remembrance or Holocaust Memorial Day until I went to Israel on a pre-college semester at Tel Aviv University a few months after the Yom Kippur War. In my life, every day was Holocaust Memorial Day. I was a child of Holocaust survivors whose small community…
On December 10, 1986, Eli Wiesel accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway. His acceptance speech exemplifies so much of his character, his grace, his fearlessness, his greatness. As the speech called to the people of that day, it can call us, too, if only we listen. He begins: “Words of gratitude. First to…
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin spoke against using the Holocaust as the only lens through which to understand Jewish history, warning that such an approach could damage Israel’s relations with the world community. “We need to ask ourselves: Whether, when we are involved only in preventing a Shoah, are we capable of most effectively meeting the…
Israel’s state comptroller sharply critiqued the state’s treatment of Holocaust survivors ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day on Sunday, Haaretz reported. In a report issued on Wednesday, state comptroller Yosef Shapira said that Israel had made it difficult for survivors to access the benefits that they are entitled to and some survivors were at risk of…
Jews light yahrzeit candles to commemorate Yom HaShoah, the Jewish Holocaust Remembrance Day, but keeping a flame alive for hours may not be possible for some students in college dorms or the elderly in nursing homes. Susan Ringel of Pepper Pike, Ohio created the Yom HaShoah Candle App last year to allow anyone with an…
Getty Images One day in 2002, my mother sat down in the living room of her Upper West Side, Manhattan apartment and told her life story to a stranger. The stranger was a volunteer, part of Steven Spielberg’s epic campaign to preserve the life stories of Holocaust survivors. For over three hours the stranger asked…
On Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2015, Abigail Pogrebin explained how to make the holiday meaningful year after year. Her message resonates just as strongly today. Tonight I will be reading aloud the names of strangers. The annual “Reading and Hearing of the Names” is coordinated by the JCC in Manhattan in honor of Yom HaShoah…
A Jewish boy wears a yellow star like those forced on Jews during the Holocaust / Getty Images “So, children, tell me how you came to Theresienstadt.” Thus began my seventh grade intro to Shoah education. Not that we hadn’t been learning about the Holocaust for most of our day school careers. There was the…
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