New Speaker- Yom Hashoa Commeration -- Sunday, April 19 - 11:00 AM
04/17/2020 03:58:13 PM
Apr17
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YOM HASHOAH COMMEMORATION Sunday, April 19 - 11:00 AM
New Guest Speaker - Debbie Cohn Click here to join this presentation
Monday, April 20 - 7:00 PM Survivor Testimony - Ruth Mermelstein Click here to join us for this presentation
24 Hour Vigil - Guarding the Flame Register Here to Choose Your Time Slot Click here to Join the Vigil
Monday, April 20 - 8:00 PM Tuesday, April 21 - 8:00 PM
Debbie Cohn Biography Debbie Cohn is Second Generation, meaning that her parents were Holocaust survivors. Her mother, Ilse Morgenstern Loeb, was born in Vienna, Austria, and her father, Walter Loeb, was born in Birkenau, Germany.
Debbie's mother was 12 years old when the Nazis marched into Austria, and Ilse's life changed overnight. A few months later, Debbie's grandparents (Ilse's parents) had to make the difficult decision to send their daughter Ilse away to try to save her life. Ilse ultimately had to go into "hiding" from the Nazis. She then became a "hidden child", which is what many Jewish children had to do to survive during the Holocaust. Ilse's story has several parallels to the story of Anne Frank, with the big difference that Ilse survived.
Debbie's father, Walter, grew up in Germany during Hitler's rise to power. He was arrested on Kristallnacht in November 1938 and sent to Dachau Concentration Camp.
She wants to show how prejudice, discrimination, and bullying can lead to something as terrible as the Holocaust. She also wants to share that without people who were "upstanders" - people who helped during that difficult time instead of being bystanders - her parents would not have survived and she would not be here to tell you their stories.
Ruth Mermelstein's Biography Ruth was born in Sighet, part of northern Transylvania in Romania, and was one of six siblings. Ruth’s family was forced into a ghetto until they were sent to Auschwitz. She and her sister, Elisabeth, were the only family members to survive. Together they worked as slave laborers in Auschwitz and were then transported to another camp working at an ammunition factory in IG Farben. As the Russian army approached, Ruth was sent on a 5-week death march to Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp. On April 18, 1945 Ruth was liberated by British troops. Suffering from Tuberculosis, Ruth and her sister were transported to Sweden by the Red Cross. After several years in Sweden she met her husband, a survivor who lived in the U.S. They married and moved to the U.S.
Yom Hashoah - 24 hour Vigil
Memory plays an important role in our observances and we need your help to remember the 6 million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. It is our responsibility to remember those we have lost and to educate the future generations about this horrible period of our history.
In past years we have invited individuals to sit in the synagogue sanctuary with 6 candles representing the 6 million. This year, we are adjusting to our new environment and are asking people to sign up for a 1-hour time-slot to sit with a candle at home, on a zoom call. When the next person enters, they will take over sitting with their own candle.
We will have a 24-hour vigil where you will not only stand up for the victims with your presence, but you will recite their names as well. It is a time for silent contemplation, reading the names, and learning about the Shoa.
We need at least one person per time slot and we need people to take late and early morning hours.
Affiliated with United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism