Michael Rubell of Morristown, center, received the Hela Young Award from the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education at the April 20 Yom Hashoa ceremony in Deal. With him are commission leaders, chair Phil Kirschner, left, and executive director Paul Winkler.
Photo by Jill Huber
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April 23, 2009
More than 500 attendees paid tribute to Holocaust victims and survivors at the official state observance of Yom Hashoa April 20 in Deal.
A different location is chosen for the state ceremony each year; the Ruth Hyman Jewish Community Center of Monmouth County was selected this year in honor of the 30th anniversary of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Education Center at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft.
“Going to a different location each year gives us the privilege of sharing in Yom Hashoa observances throughout the state,” Dr. Paul Winkler, executive director of the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education, told NJ Jewish News. “Survivors want to join their own communities on this special day, and it’s a great honor for the state to join them.”
The commission and the Office of the Governor, in conjunction with Monmouth County’s Jewish community, area synagogues, and community organizations, sponsored the event.
The commission presented the Hela Young Award to Michael Rubell of Morristown, founder of Morris Rubell Holocaust Remembrance Journeys. The group was formed by Rubell in 1995, following the death of Morris Rubell, his father, a Holocaust survivor who spoke about tolerance and the evils of discrimination to students and community groups throughout the state.
The award honors individuals who are committed to Jewish causes and preserving the lessons of the Holocaust, Winkler said.
But it’s the Holocaust survivors who are the honored guests at every Yom Hashoa observance, said Rabbi Gordon Yaffe, religious leader of Temple Beth El in Oakhurst and one of the event planners.
“They are a unique element in our communities,” Yaffe said. “Yom Hashoa is a sacred occasion when we honor Holocaust victims and survivors — those who looked darkness in the eye and rose above it to create a new life for themselves.”
The ceremony included prayers; a recitation by local youngsters of the names of children who perished in the Shoa; performances by cellist Amy Garland Goldman, pianist David Schlossberg, and choir members from local synagogues; and reflections on death and survival read by local clergy.
“It’s important to show this kind of broad-based support of Yom Hashoa,” said Hany Mawla, chair of the NJ Arab-American Heritage Commission in Trenton. “We must underscore the fact that every human life is precious.”
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