Yom HaShoah Holocaust Remembrance
Yom HaShoah Holocaust Remembrance Day, 2022, occurred on April 27th this year. I attended virtually and heard some of the names read. These are the names of those who were killed for being Jews by Nazi Germany during WWII. They were read by the last name, then the first name and it took a couple of hours to read them. I listened for quite a while. What did I hear, those names being read? I imagined I heard peoples’ lives, their individual stories, their loves and losses, and their everyday routines. And I heard members of a family, one after the other after another read. In a separate virtual Remembrance Day event, I heard a personal story from a Holocaust survivor, a boy when the war started, and what his living in a ghetto was like. At the war’s end, 21 family members had been killed.
I’m sure some have asked, what is the purpose of this remembrance? Why dredge up the horror, the sadness, the horrible history of all of this? The purpose is for us not to forget, to hopefully learn from our past. What our hate and scapegoating of a group of people can result in. To acknowledge the horrors, the loss of life, the utter inhumanity that occurred. That is the purpose. Unfortunately, time has past and people have already forgotten, even doubted it happened, that the reports, pictures and stories are somehow made up. That is the saddest part in all of this, seeing those survivors dying out while people question it happening.
The Power of One Event Celebration
The Interfaith Council has the privilege of once again honoring community leaders in our annual Power of One Awards celebration on May 22, 4 pm at the California Museum.
We are honoring Gabby Trejo, who leads SacACT, Jon Fish, the past president of the Interfaith Council, and Liz Igra of the Holocaust Educators’ Network. Each of them has worked tirelessly, in their own way, for Sacramento. But even more special is having it at the California Museum, which houses the permanent Unity Center Exhibit. I’ve talked before about how its multi-interactive exhibits explore our commonalities and our uniqueness. The 2 must go together because regardless of us being made in the image of God, living inside material bodies, we want to be recognized for our uniqueness in our race, religion, ethnicity, and perspective. We can say that we are all God’s Children, seeing everyone as such and finding unity thru that, but we also need to recognize each person’s unique contributions to society and the world. The Unity Center Exhibit allows people to record their perspectives and to hear others’ perspectives, enriching us in each others’ perspectives and experiences.
Please join us on May 22 at 4 pm at the California Museum for this unique and special event. Tickets are $50 each.
Learn more and get your tickets here.
Serene Erby
President, Interfaith Council