Today is Holocaust Memorial Day and people all over the world will stop and remember the victims of the Holocaust.
In a world still struggling with hatred, violence, racism and anti-Semitism, Holocaust Memorial Day has a special resonance.
In Boca Raton, the day was marked with a march of solidarity through the streets of Boca yesterday.
Congressman Ted Deutch and Boca Raton Mayor Susan Haynie spoke at the memorial event along with three local people with personal experiences from the Holocaust. These riveting stories of a concentration camp survivor, a camp liberator and a participant in the life-changing March of the Living for high school youth help to raise public awareness and provide enduring meaning for people of all faiths, with the message that the atrocities of the Holocaust will never be repeated.
“At the March of Remembrance, it is important that Christians stand with the Jewish people to say, ‘Never again!’ All of us should take part and be reminded of what happens when neighbors do nothing,” declared Pastor Tye Riter of Reveal Fellowship.
The March of Remembrance is a regional, collaborative effort uniting the Southeast Florida community through churches, synagogues and community groups. Planning for this event has included, among others, the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County, Reveal Fellowship, Victory Church, The Flame Society, Temple Beth El, and Boca Raton Christian School. This assembly of Jewish and Christian denominations will honor living survivors and pay tribute to the lives that were lost, while also raising awareness of the lessons to be learned from the genocide that transpired more than seventy years ago.
“The March of Remembrance is a unique opportunity for the entire community, Jewish and non-Jewish, to come together to remember the atrocities of the Holocaust,” said Jill Rose, Jewish Community Relations Council Co-chair. “It is through our combined strength that we can say, ‘Never again’, and ensure that our voices are heard.”
Rabbi Dan Levin of Temple Beth El in Boca Raton considers the March of Remembrance to be a significant event for members of all faiths as they join together in unity, “Temple Beth El is grateful for the opportunity to commemorate Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, with such a broad-based collaborative effort across the spectrum of religious life in our community. It is inspiring to see that so many people from so many different walks of life choose to come together to say that love and respect, not bigotry and hatred, are the values on which we will build our world together.”
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