"Sharing the Silence: The Child of a Survivor Tells His Father's Story"

Many people have stories about those who survived the Holocaust. In Wilmington there were quite a few and their experiences were, in certain respects, far more “dramatic” than was my dad’s. But “his story” became an integral part of my “history,” an integral component of who I am and why I chose to become a rabbi. That’s why I choose to tell the story, to “share the silence” with anyone who will listen, and Harrisonburg was one of the stops as I drove around the country sixteen years ago and other times across the years.

  This Friday night will be Beth El’s Community Awareness Shabbat. Your neighbors and friends and local churches are invited to the synagogue to acquaint themselves with the “mystery” of what it is we do and through our liturgy what it is we believe. I want them to hear about the Holocaust through the story of one man, not six million, a difficult number to comprehend.

   The Holocaust has also become ancient history not only for those of school age but adults as well. We know when events fade in the background there will be those who come out of the woodwork to deny the facts, indeed, to deny even the fact that they happened in the first place. In this time of anti-Semitism all around the world and, tragically, in America as well, it is even more important to tell people what hatred can lead to.

  Please invite those you feel would benefit from a visit to Beth El, who would benefit from hearing about my father, his experiences, his luck, his bravery, and my gratitude that he lived through both the Shoah and the Second World War.