New York City's Annual Gathering Of Remembrance Presented By The Museum Of Jewish Heritage Held Virtually

On Sunday, the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust presented New York's Annual Gathering of Remembrance. Traditionally the largest Holocaust commemoration in the country, this year's commemoration took place virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic that has required people to observe from their homes and not in a communal space.

The event fulfills the sacred Jewish obligation to remember those who were murdered during the Holocaust and is held annually on the Sunday closest to Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day (which begins tonight, Monday, April 20 through sundown on April 21).

"Even though his year we are not able to gather in person, it is still our obligation to remember those that we lost," Event Chair and Museum Trustee Rita Lerner, the daughter of two Holocaust survivors, said in her remarks delivered at the Annual Gathering of Remembrance. "We honor their memory and the memory of all survivors who are cast away, leaving us to carry on their great legacy."

"As we gather virtually today, it is a great honor to have as many Holocaust survivors and their families joining us from their homes," Museum Board Chairman Bruce Ratner said in his remarks, noting that there are 80,000 survivors in United States, about half living in the tri-state area. "They serve as our collective conscience and our call to action, reminding us of both what is possible in the world's darkest hours and the resilience of the human spirit... They are our most important community members and many of them are among the most vulnerable during the coronavirus pandemic."

The Annual Gathering of Remembrance, which featured performances, remarks, and a candle lighting ceremony, was prerecorded and then shared on the Museum's website and on its digital platforms.

You can now watch the ceremony on the Museum's online platforms:

Website https://mjhnyc.org/annual-gathering-remembrance/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MuseumofJewishHeritage/

YouTube https://youtu.be/ULvntZxKZWc

In addition to Rita Lerner and Bruce Ratner, the event featured remarks from Museum President & CEO Jack Kliger and special appearances from U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (from a prior Gathering) and Ambassador Dani Dayan. Cantor Joseph Malovany chanted the event's traditional memorial songs.

"We honor the memory of those who perished at the hands of evil, and pay tribute to those who survived and have made a better world for us all. But we have never gathered under circumstances quite like these... The coronavirus pandemic presents a serious challenge to our community, to New York City, and to the nation," Jack Kliger said. "We come together every year because we all feel a shared conviction that history requires us to remember the Holocaust, that we owe it survivors and victims to tell the story of how they lived and how they died and to make meaning of their suffering so that we can build a more secure and tolerant world."

Dani Dayan, Consul General of Israel in New York, noted that, "We have to mourn like our brethren that were liberated from Auschwitz mourned their relatives that didn't make it," and stressed the importance of teaching to make future generations remember.

Rabbi Joshua M. Davidson, Senior Rabbi at Temple Emanu-El, delivered the invocation, noting that, "Year after year, it is our privilege to host this annual gathering of remembrance and I want us to believe that we will be able to put the pieces back together again and we will be together again. Today, we mourn the six million of our people murdered by the Nazis, and as we do we honor the courage of the survivors, their children and grandchildren who have bravely carried the pieces, rebuilding them into a legacy that has become the foundation of our Jewish life and our Jewish future."

The Annual Gathering of Remembrance included the recitation of Kaddish by Holocaust survivor Mikhl Baran, who died this past week on April 17. While in hospice, he had made a video recording o of himself saying Kaddish specifically for this Holocaust memorial event. Mikhl Baran grew up in the shtetl of Oshmiany near Vilnius, Lithuania. He was a teenager when the Nazis took over Lithuania, but somehow managed to escape the ghetto in 1941. Baran fled east and joined the Soviet Army, where he went behind enemy lines and maneuvered through snowy mountains on skis to capture Nazi officers. After the war, he married Millie, his childhood sweetheart, and together they moved to New York. He was a dedicated teacher and transmitted Yiddishkeit to younger generations for over six decades.

Holocaust survivor Fred Terna shared his history and reflections. Terna was born in Vienna, grew up in Prague, and during the Holocaust was in Terezin and Auschwitz. "I have a difficult time thinking about all the people around me. They are very, very much in my mind. At every turn, in every camp, there were some wonderful, learned, cultured people - people who would have contributed to the world immeasurably. The Prague Jewish community was a very, very creative community with many authors, composers, actors, playwrights. They all disappeared. But what did not disappear is their work, the extent that it survived," said Terna.

A third generation (3G) survivor, Melissa Berger, spoke about the legacy of her grandparents, Barry and Lea Berger, who were Holocaust survivors. "My husband John and I will forever carry on my grandparents' legacies, and we will pass them down to our children, the first of whom is scheduled to arrive this September," said Berger.

Musical performances featured "Won't Be Silent," which was composed by Wolf Durmashkin. Durmashkin founded the Ghetto Orchestra, a music school, and choir while held at the Vilna Ghetto. He was later transferred to do forced labor at Klooga concentration camp, and it was in this environment that he wrote the piece. He was killed just hours before the camp was liberated. Recently rediscovered, the composition received new life and new lyrics written by Grammy-nominated songwriter Kara DioGaurdi.

Zalmen Mlotek, Artistic Director of National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, provided piano accompaniment for several parts of the program. HaZamir, The International Jewish High School Choir, conducted by Matthew Lazar, was also featured.

The Annual Gathering of Remembrance opened with a video narrated by actor and Museum supporter Julianna Margulies, who said, "We are witnessing a frightening increase in the number of people who know little or nothing of the Holocaust, who never heard of Auschwitz or Belzec or Bergen-Belsen or Buchenwald or Dachau. And we all know what happens when we don't learn from history. We have the responsibility to keep the memories alive, but people are forgetting."

A candle lighting ceremony featured Holocaust survivors, including Dr. Ruth Westheimer, and descendants of victims of the Holocaust including actor Steven Skybell, Jessica Shaw, and a number of others. People who tuned in were able to participate by taking a video or photograph of themselves lighting a candle in remembrance and noting the name of a family member killed in the Holocaust, or a Holocaust survivor who is no longer with us.

The public was invited to upload videos and photographs to the Museum's Facebook page and many others posted to Instagram and Twitter using the hashtag #CandlesOfRemembrance.

Many shared the names of family members killed during or survived the Holocaust, and acknowledged family whose names and histories are lost.

A message from Kathleen Hochul, Lieutenant Governor of New York, will be shared on the Museum's social media platforms on Yom HaShoah (Tuesday, April 21).

A number of organizations partnered with the Museum to create the ceremony: the Anti-Defamation League, 3GNY - Descendants of Holocaust Survivors, Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York, Consulate General of Israel in New York, Manhattan Chapter of Women Holocaust Survivors, Young Friends of the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, Selfhelp Community Services, The Blue Card, The New York Board of Rabbis, and UJA-Federation of New York.

Normally on the day of Yom HaShoah, the Museum hosts numerous events and programs in the building, including welcoming school groups to speak with Holocaust survivors in the galleries. Due to the building's closure in response to citywide Covid-19 prevention procedures, this year there will be numerous virtual events on Yom HaShoah, Tuesday, April 21.

• On the Museum's Facebook page, survivor testimony videos will be featured throughout the day. Survivor testimony allows the next generation to engage in personal experience of global significance. These histories shine a light on the courage and resilience of Holocaust survivors, which we appreciate more than ever in this time of upheaval and uncertainty.
• An online professional development course for teachers is offered on the eve of Yom HaShoah. At 11 AM on Tuesday, an online class for students will take place. The Museum's blog will feature the stories of Holocaust survivors who are part of our Speakers Bureau.