Yom HaShoah ensures Holocaust victims won't be forgotten

Central Louisiana citizens gathered Monday evening at the Alexandria Holocaust Memorial at the corner of Fourth and Elliott streets in Alexandria to commemorate Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Memorial Day.

Yom HaShoah ensures that memories of those who were killed in the Holocaust live on and that they didn’t die in vain, said Rabbi Judy Ginsburgh. It was observed on nightfall of Sunday to sunset on Monday.

Between 1933-1945, more than 6 million Jewish people, and other marginalized groups, were killed in Nazi-occupied Europe, and many more were imprisoned and tortured.

“We remember the victims of the greatest crime of human against human. The young, the old, the innocent,” Chris Thacker, pastor at Emmanuel Baptist Church, told the gathering. “The million and a half children, starved, shot, given lethal injections, gassed, burned and turned to ash because they were deemed guilty of the crime of being different.”

“We remember what happens when hate takes hold of the human heart and turns it to stone,” Ginsburgh said. “What happens when victims cry for help and there is no one listening. When humanity fails to recognize that those who are not in our image are nonetheless in God’s image.”

Seven candles were lit in remembrance of the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust.

The Kaddish Prayer was recited along with the names of concentration camps.

“This prayer is so ancient, it’s not even Hebrew. It’s Aramaic,” Ginsburgh said. “And we recite the Kaddish for those whom we remember with affection. For those whom we know in name only. For those who rest in nameless graves, and those whose ashes were blown by wind to every corner of the Earth.”

Mike Tudor, who is not Jewish, had two purposes for attending the event.

“In growing up here, we have such a vibrant Jewish community that was so heavily integrated,” he said. “Friends, professionals. So, it’s reaching out to somebody that we care about in our community.”

Holocaust Memorial Day is also being recognized throughout the country, he added

“Those that don’t want to see anything like that ever repeated would like to join in on days like this,” he said.

Artist Debra Bynog said she’s studied the Holocaust and that is why she came out to the memorial.

“It happened, and it’s really sad,” she said.

In speaking to the crowd, Alexandria Mayor Jacques Roy told the crowd that they need to look up the meaning of the words “Tikkun Olam” and think about what it means.

It means “repairing the world,” and people can repair the world in their own way.

“If you are Christian as I am, or you have any other faith, I want you to think about how it applies within our own faith tradition,” Roy said. “Judaism is rich with the notion of seeking to repair things.”

He also said that we’re living in tough times.

“And we all need to do a bigger, better part of making sure we don’t repeat these sins of the past because I can assure you that can happen, just like that,” he said, emphasizing his words with the snap of his fingers. “Nine years, a decade or so it took for Hitler to gain the power that he did. That is a tiny amount of time. Think about that.”

Roy also pointed out a sign on the memorial grounds that has the poem “First They Came” and how it ends with “There was no one left to speak for me.”

There seems to be a certain selfishness in the world and a lack of thinking about the past, and judgements are quickly made on social media without facts, he said.

“After all, this is how it happens to a people. That’s how autocracy works. That’s how all the things that are a threat to a democracy, like our own, work,” he said.

“We hold services like this so we will never forget, and we pray that the history of the Holocaust will never be repeated,” Ginsburgh said. “We pray that we can learn to be tolerant of others. To understand differences and to love our neighbor as ourselves. May we all try to do more to make our world a world of love, a world of compassion, a world of kindness, and a world of peace.”

She ended the service by saying, “We will leave in silence, with hope in our hearts.”

The commemoration here in Alexandria has been held for a number of years and organized by the Jewish Temple, The Alexandria Holocaust Memorial Inc., Emmanuel Baptist Church, B'nai Israel Synagogue and Cenla United Jewish Communities.

This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Yom HaShoah ensures Holocaust victims won't be forgotten