Holocaust Victims Honored at Temple Shalom During Yom HaShoah Service
Derek Redd Trending
One lone candle may not always generate much light, said Rabbi Joshua Lief of Temple Shalom. Yet many candles together can illuminate the darkness.
That was one of the messages Lief offered Monday at Temple Shalom during the synagogue's Yom HaShoah service. The service is held annually to memorialize those who died during the Holocaust.
"The Holocaust is not just a remembrance for Jews," Lief said following the service. "It's a cautionary tale to us all of the cost of toxic hatred in our world, and the equal cost of when good people do nothing."
Many people of varied backgrounds were remembered during Monday's service. Along with the 6 million Jews who perished at the hands of the Nazis, others such as political opponents, Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexual men, Blacks, habitual criminals, people called "asocials," people with disabilities, Romani people, Polish people, Soviet prisoners of war and Soviet officers were killed as well.
As part of the service, those in attendance lit individual candles in memory of others. Some lit candles for family members who died in the Holocaust. Some lit candles for family members who survived the concentration camps. Others lit candles for family members who helped liberate those camps during World War II. And other lit candles for those who had no family members left to mourn for them.
In his message to those in attendance, Lief said it was false to call the attacks against Israelis by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, another Holocaust, though it was the largest loss of Jewish life in a single day since the Holocaust. Yet, he added, it was true to say there were Jewish people who survived the Holocaust only to die at the hands of Hamas, as it was true to say that Holocaust survivors chased from their homes that day had flashbacks to those dark times.
Lief also said it was true that there remains a tremendous amount of hatred in the world, as shown in the anti-Jewish speech heard in protests on college campuses around the country.
"But it is also true that we are still here tonight," he continued, "able to remember, able to learn the lessons of our past and, sadly, the lessons of our present, which don't seem to have yet been learned appropriately.
"Falsehood leads to failure," Lief added. "When we grasp onto narratives that only suit our own self interests, rather than the interest of justice, righteousness and peace in our world, we have failed."
Where Lief was comforted was in the group that came to Temple Shalom on Monday, members of the Jewish community, leaders and members of different faiths and leaders in the political realm all joining together to offer their support.
"With the events happening in our world, it is deeply meaningful to our tiny Jewish community here to be surrounded by our friends from the wider community," Lief said, "and to be supported on this night and on every night.
"We've been part of this community of Wheeling for 175 years," he added. "We are deeply invested in the well-being of not just our own little piece of the community but of the community as a whole. And on a night like tonight, it's profoundly meaningful to be surrounded by our friends."