New Jersey Jewish News
Monmouth County Feature
Community gathers for Yom Hashoa remembrance
The Monmouth County Jewish community gathered on
April 24 to remember the victims of the Holocaust, to pay tribute to those who saved lives, and to honor those who survived.
Several hundred Jewish community members gathered at the Axelrod Performing Arts Center at the Ruth Hyman Jewish Community Center in Deal in observance of Yom Hashoa, Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Although area synagogues and Jewish organizations have long acknowledged Yom Hashoa in individual ways, this year’s event marked the first time so many had come together in a group effort to commemorate the event.
The gathering was sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Monmouth County, the Ruth Hyman JCC of Greater Monmouth County, the Center for Holocaust Studies at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft, and nine county synagogues: Temple Beth El, Oakhurst; Congregation B’nai Israel, Rumson; Congregation Kol Am, Freehold; Monmouth Reform Temple, Tinton Falls; Temple Beth Ahm and Temple Shalom, Aberdeen; Temple Beth Miriam, Elberon; Temple Rodeph Torah, Marlboro; and Temple Shaari Emeth, Manalapan.
“This evening is devoted to the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust and is a tribute to those who helped save lives,” said Rabbi Gordon Yaffe, religious leader of Temple Beth El. “It also honors those who survived. We invoke God’s blessing upon all of them.”
More than 25 of the 156 identified survivors who now live in the Monmouth County area attended the ceremony.
“I lived in this area for many years,” said survivor Louis Schulman of Hamilton. “But if you are a Holocaust survivor, you have more than one home. You are a citizen of the world.”
Schulman, along with his wife, Rochelle, and his sister, Yetta Bronner, all of whom survived the Holocaust, silently watched as community leaders read commemorative passages and lit seven candles. The tapers represented the lost culture and communities of Eastern Europe; the men, women, and children who perished; those who resisted; and the gentile rescuers.
The presenters included federation president Robert Grossman; Rabbi Brooks Susman of Kol Am; Rabbi Andrew Bloom of B’nai Israel; Dale Daniels, executive director of BCC’s Center for Holocaust Studies; Jess Levy, executive director of the Ruth Hyman JCC; Sharon Emmons, director of Shore Hebrew High School in Deal; and Rabbi Sally Priesand of Monmouth Reform Temple.
“During that terrible time, there were still some who managed to survive,” said Rabbi Cy Stanway of Temple Beth Miriam, following a recitation of survivors’ names. “We must thank them for their courage, inspiration, and strength.”
The memories of the Holocaust were also evoked in song by Cantors Marla Barugel of B’nai Israel, Gabrielle Clissold of Monmouth Reform Temple, Marcia Lane of Beth El, and Jacqueline Shuchat-Marx of Rodeph Torah.
Last November, Yaffe met with representatives of area synagogues and Jewish groups to propose the idea of a community-wide Yom Hashoa observance; the idea took hold and was subsequently presented to the federation by Yaffe and Daniels.
“Here at the center, every day is spent teaching and remembering the Holocaust,” Daniels said. “But Yom Hashoa is the day set aside by the State of Israel and the worldwide Jewish community to remember and reflect upon the Shoa, a uniquely Jewish experience. It is part of our tradition to learn, pray, mourn, perform mitzvot as a community, and pass down these responsibilities from generation to generation.”
And the responsibility to bear witness and share the lessons of the Holocaust has fallen upon a new generation, added Priesand.
“Now that the survivors have grown older, it has become our task to record their stories so they will never be forgotten,” she said. “‘Remember’ is one of the most oft-mentioned commandments in the Torah.”
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