FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Information:
Sharon Franklin-Shavrick, Development Assistant; United Jewish
Federation of Greater Stamford, New Canaan, and Darien; Sharon@ujf.org
Stamford, CT., March
11, 20014
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On Sunday, April 27, a Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance
Day) Commemoration will be held at Temple Sinai in Stamford, CT. This program, which starts at 7:00pm, is open
to the entire community under the auspices of the United Jewish Federation of
Stamford, New Canaan and Darien. It is a
day to remember and reflect on the approximately six million Jews who perished
as a result of the actions carried out by
Nazi Germany.
This year, the Holocaust (or Shoah) will be commemorated in
a unique way than done in previous years. For the first time, a community- wide
Seder will be held. Unlike a Passover Seder, there will be no meal, but
Holocaust appropriate symbols will be on everyone’s Seder plates as the story
of the Shoah is told by survivors, the second generation, and beyond.
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Ricky Arbon, United
Jewish Federation’s Vice President of Education, notes that “since we have
fewer and fewer survivors to tell the story, it is important that we have a
mechanism to tell the story so that our children can tell it, too. We don’t
want it to become a piece of history- rather , like at Passover, we want to
create a way to feel that the Shoah happened to us all, and just as we feel
each year at Passover that we are liberated, we need to feel each year that we
have an obligation to work towards a world without Genocide”.
Eva Weller, President of the Jewish Historical Society of
Fairfield County, and a daughter of a survivor, comments “In sharing in the
spirit of communal gratitude that the Jewish people not only survived, but
thrived after the Nazi threat to our people’s very existence. We are privileged to hear survivors’
testimonies since most were children during the Holocaust and the last of their
generation. Each survivor’s story is unique and adds to our shared history and
heritage and will become part of our collective memory of triumph and
survival. It is our responsibility to
honor the past and learn from it.”In addition to hearing survivors’ reflections, local rabbis will participate, and the tradition will be continued of lighting memorial candles to commemorate the six million Jews killed during the Holocaust.