Past was very present at Yom HaShoah

By Eric George Tauber

LA JOLLA, California — Sunday’s Community Holocaust Commemoration had been planned for months, long before the terrorist attack on Chabad of Poway the day before. But it felt that much more important to be there. And I’m glad we got there early as the house was packed with a multi-generational crowd and varying levels of observance. Upon entering, we were given little electric candles symbolizing our continuation as Holocaust survivors, their children, grandchildren and all who stand with them.

Opening remarks were made by Barbara Ostroff who is the chair of the Yom HaShoah Committee, a member of Chabad of Poway and a friend of the late Lori Gilbert Kaye. Rabbi Yosef Fradkin of the Chabad Hebrew Academy mentioned the lost finger of Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein saying, “Let us all use our hands to do good things.”

Making an unscheduled visit, Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the national Anti-Defamation League, gave an address. “…This wasn’t just an attack on Chabad. This was an attack on all of us. …May [Lori’s] memory not just be a blessing but a call to action. … White Supremacy is a terror threat. We see them using the same methods as radical Islamists. It must be called out and fought with the same vigor. …We owe it to you [Holocaust survivors] to stand up for our rights and values.”

The Color Guard from the Marine Corps Recruit Depot presented the flag as Arielle Powell of J*Co led us in the Star Spangled Banner. Eileen Wingard –with her daughter Myla, and sisters Emily and Kate Chasin- led a quartet in playing John Williams’ Theme from Schindler’s List.  It’s a haunting melody that brought a noisy house to rapt silence.

William Bernstein of Yad Vashem and Eitan Weiss of the Israeli Consulate in LA presented a medallion “Righteous Among the Nations” posthumously honoring Cornelius and Wilhelmina deRu. The deRus were Dutch Christians living in Holland at the time of the Nazi occupation. Appalled by the way their Jewish neighbors were being treated, the deRus –at great personal risk to their own family- took in a Jewish baby. They provided temporary shelter in their home to numerous Jewish people until they could be more safely relocated. During their lifetimes, they balked at being called “heroes.” They only saw themselves as good Christians doing what was right.

Our featured presenter was Heather Maio Smith. After developing the Oscar-winning technology used in Avatar, she committed to recording survivor testimonies. She wanted to recreate the intimacy of sitting down with a survivor one-on-one. Because of the extensiveness of the questions, family members of the survivors were treated to stories they had never heard before.

With this technology, a person can ask their own questions and the program will find a response based on key words. Unfortunately, there were some glitches. The little that we got from the demo came in fits and starts and one response didn’t really answer the question asked. So there’s a few bugs that still need to be worked out.

There were more prayers including El Maleh Rachamim, the Mourners’ Kaddish and the singing of Hatikvah, Israel’s National Anthem. The crowd had noticeably thinned by the end, but that’s to be expected in a three-hour program.

Our community lost nineteen Holocaust survivors in this past year alone. Soon, there will be none. That makes the many stories, books, films and now interactive experiences like Heather Maio Smith’s that much more important. And the addition of Lori Gilbert Kaye dying Kiddush L’Shem (sanctifying the holy name) makes it all the more important that we stand together as a community. Let us use our hands to do good deeds and our voices to shout “Am Yisrael Chai!” the People of Israel Live! Otherwise, our survivors survived for nothing.

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Tauber is a freelance writer based in San Diego.  He may be contacted via eric.tauber@sdjewishworld.com