Hundreds turn out for Yom Hashoah & Yom Haatzmaut events
Yom Hashoah
Thank you to everyone who attended and participated in our Yom Hashoah Holocaust Remembrance program on April 16th, especially those 8th grade students from Patrick O’Malley and Melissa Lindley’s Language Arts classes at Discovery Middle School. The students shared reflections and poems, and displayed artwork inspired by their study of the Holocaust in class. They were joined by Ina Rosenberg, Ruth Isaacs-Holzer, Bob Feferman, Dr. Todd Cummings (Superintendent, South Bend Schools), and Dr. Jerry Thacker (Superintendent, PHM Schools) to light candles in honor of the lives lost during the Holocaust.
We also extend our thanks to the Honorable Judge John Broden for providing opening remarks, and to our featured speaker, author Danica Davidson, who was interviewed by 8th grader Anton Kozelichki about her new book I Will Protect You, co-written with the late Eva Mozes Kor, z’l.
Yom Haatzmaut
To commemorate Yom Hazikaron and celebrate Yom Haatzmaut, on April 30th we invited the community to join us for a traditional Israeli lunch prepared by Judy Sassler and her team of volunteers. We heard from our guest of honor, IDF veteran Michael Aaronson, in conversation with our own Shirlee Greenwald, reflecting back on his career in the army. And to cap off a most meaningful afternoon, Israeli American comedian Avi Liberman took to the stage and had the room rolling with laughter.
Special thanks to our Yom Hazikaron candle lighters Michael Aaronson, Dovid & Eliana Brandes, Bob Feferman, Shoshana Feferman, Shirlee Greenwald, David Harper, Elisheva Lerman, Sondra Levin, Sarah Nerenberg, Cristyne Porile, Dan Ravitch and Alon Shemesh.
To our event sponsors, The Lebermuth Company and Steel Warehouse, we can’t thank you enough for your generous support of this special program.
And finally, to Shirlee Greenwald and Dan Ravitch for their leadership in and passion for Israel, helping make our Federation’s celebration of Israel’s 75th anniversary one to remember for a very long time.
