2008 Woodie Awards
Survivor and Students Share Stories of Holocaust
Yael Wolynetz
Issue date: 5/13/08 Section: News
On May 1, hundreds of Yeshiva University undergraduate students gathered in Weissberg Commons on the Wilf campus in commemoration of Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. The turnout was larger than the organizers had anticipated, and facilities brought in an extra 100 chairs to accommodate the crowd.
The ceremony began with an address by President Richard M. Joel. He noted the centrality of Holocaust remembrance in the daily lives of YU students. "We don't need a specific date to remember, since we remember every day," he said. Nonetheless, he recognized the importance of partaking in the act of remembering at the same time as the broader Jewish community.
Sharing a personal anecdote from his childhood, President Joel recalled how every Friday night before she lit the Shabbat candles, his grandmother would always say in Yiddish, "It's hard to be a Jew." Growing up, President Joel always understood her statement in a negative context, until he had his own family and was able to understand her message on a deeper level. President Joel also touched on the importance of keeping the Holocaust as a "memory and not history."
In his closing remarks, he shared a story about Jewish philanthropist Edgar Bronfman, with whom President Joel had a close relationship in his former position as Hillel Director. At a fundraising event, Bronfman delivered a compelling speech about the Holocaust. Afterward, an audience member approached him and said, "Mr. Bronfman, you spoke so passionately about the Holocaust, you must have had a lot of family that were killed." To that statement, Bronfman replied, "Six million of my family died." President Joel urged members of the audience to maintain a similar sentiment.
Following President Joel's remarks, Sefi Lerner (SCW '08), one of the organizers of the program, called on eight students who each had a grandparent who survived the Holocaust to share his or her grandparent's story. The students lit candles, with a total of six candles lit, in memory of the six million who perished at the hands of the Nazis.
The ceremony began with an address by President Richard M. Joel. He noted the centrality of Holocaust remembrance in the daily lives of YU students. "We don't need a specific date to remember, since we remember every day," he said. Nonetheless, he recognized the importance of partaking in the act of remembering at the same time as the broader Jewish community.
Sharing a personal anecdote from his childhood, President Joel recalled how every Friday night before she lit the Shabbat candles, his grandmother would always say in Yiddish, "It's hard to be a Jew." Growing up, President Joel always understood her statement in a negative context, until he had his own family and was able to understand her message on a deeper level. President Joel also touched on the importance of keeping the Holocaust as a "memory and not history."
In his closing remarks, he shared a story about Jewish philanthropist Edgar Bronfman, with whom President Joel had a close relationship in his former position as Hillel Director. At a fundraising event, Bronfman delivered a compelling speech about the Holocaust. Afterward, an audience member approached him and said, "Mr. Bronfman, you spoke so passionately about the Holocaust, you must have had a lot of family that were killed." To that statement, Bronfman replied, "Six million of my family died." President Joel urged members of the audience to maintain a similar sentiment.
Following President Joel's remarks, Sefi Lerner (SCW '08), one of the organizers of the program, called on eight students who each had a grandparent who survived the Holocaust to share his or her grandparent's story. The students lit candles, with a total of six candles lit, in memory of the six million who perished at the hands of the Nazis.
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