Yom HaShoah Holocaust Day Of Remembrance Held In Montclair

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — The following letter to the editor comes courtesy of Steve Moctezuma. Find out how to post announcements or events to your local Patch site.

Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) falls on the 27th day of Nissan on the Hebrew calendar (nightfall of April 23 to 24), and is commemorated in Israel and around the world as a national day of remembrance for the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust. The theme of the remembrance is to preserve the memories of the victims, as well as the survivors and rescuers, so that future generations will learn the lessons of the past and to encourage acts of Tikkun Olam: “healing the world.”

In the United States, as noted by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's website, a weeklong series of events (Remembrance Days) are traditionally held the Sunday before and after Yom HaShoah Day.

Locally, the Montclair Interfaith Clergy Association (MICA) hosted an interfaith "International Holocaust Memorial Service" on April 23 at the Montclair Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair.

The Rev. Charles Loflin, the Montclair UU's sabbatical minister, welcomed the attendees to the solemn service, which featured lighting of memorial candles and selected readings. The MICA "pop-up" choir, conducted by cantor Meredith Greenberg, of Bloomfield's Temple Ner Tamid, also led special prayers.

Rabbi Marc Katz, of Bloomfield's Temple Ner Tamid, guided a panel discussion with three women, all of whom are "third generation survivors" (grandchildren) of Holocaust survivors: Ayelet Nelson, Audrey Hertzberg (author of "Resistance: The Memoirs of Isaac Hertzberg: As Told to Audrey Hertzberg"), and Sherri Holzer. The women shared anecdotal memories they heard from their grandparents and other relatives who had survived nightmarish hardships under Nazi tyranny.

In conjunction with MICA's memorial, the Montclair Public Library held a presentation by Irene Stern Frielich, author of "Shattered Stars, Healing Hearts: Unraveling My Father's Day Holocaust Survival Story" on April 27.

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