Beth Shalom to Host Bnai Brith Program "Unto Every Person There is a Name" April 30th

Unto Every Person There Is a Name: Public Recitation of Names of Holocaust Victims on Yom Hashoah

On Wednesday evening, April 30th beginning at 7 p.m. those gathered in the sanctuary at Temple Beth Shalom in Palm Coast will begin reading the names of victims of the Holocaust, those who died in the darkness that fell over Europe between 1933 and 1945. All are welcome to this event that is open to the public. Any one who wishes is welcome to join as readers recite and pronounce the names of the dead, 36 names at a time.

"Once a person dies and the mourning period is over, we rarely speak the names of people who have gone on to their reward," noted Temple Beth Shalom's Rabbi Merrill Shapiro. "This is the day set aside by Jews the world over, to remember those who perished, each of them individuals like all of us who had plans, dreams, aspirations and hopes. Instead of thinking about the unthinkable, 6 million dead, let us focus on just individuals and their names, names all too similar to our own!" the Rabbi added.

The worldwide Holocaust memorial project, called "Unto Every Person Is A Name," which was initiated in 1989, is a unique project designed to perpetuate the memory of the Jewish victims of the Shoah as individuals, by the public recitation of their names on Yom Hashoah - the Day of Remembrance. By personalizing the individual tragedy of its victims and survivors, this project seeks to defy dangerous trends of indifference and ignorance of World War II and the Holocaust. Six million Jews, of whom one and a half million were children, perished in the Shoah, while the world remained indifferent and failed to act. Today, while anti-Semitism has virtually been eliminated as a policy of the State, anti-Jewish attitudes and anti-Semitic manifestations still persist. Ceremonies during which names of Holocaust victims are recited, together with such information as age, place of birth and place of death, personalize the tragedy of the Holocaust. Emphasis is thus put on the millions of men, women and children who were lost to the Jewish people and not solely on the cold, intangibility embodied in the term "The Six Million." Through the recitation of individual names of victims of the Nazi genocide, "Unto Every Person There Is A Name" Yom Hashoah ceremonies help to educate and influence young people. Many have not met a survivor of the Holocaust and heard the personal experience of those who choose to share their experience to educate the youth of today. This program is also an effective tool to counter the efforts of Holocaust deniers who seek to convince the world that the Holocaust never occurred. It also serves to perpetuate the memory and respond to those who say that we should close this chapter in history. The Holocaust is a tragedy whose size defies comprehension: Six million Jews were killed. One and half million children. Billions of dollars in property were confiscated. Tens of thousands of books were destroyed. Thousand of Jewish communities were obliterated - forever. We read their names as a tribute to the lives they led and hoped to lead. "Unto Every Person There is a Name" gives names back to those who were stripped of their identities before they were robbed of their lives. By reciting their names, ages and birthplaces, we remember that each victim was an individual, a son or daughter, a sister or brother, a child or a parent. Each had hopes and dreams and, like all people, each clung to life. On Yom Hashoah, B'nai B'rith members throughout the world read some of the names of the six million Jewish men, women and children murdered during the Holocaust. Murdered, systematically and brutally, because they were born Jewish. We also recall non-Jews murdered because they, too, did not fit into Hitler's perverse vision. We, the living, bear witness today - not just at these commemorations but as a united observance in communities around the world. Together we affirm that the innocent lives lost in the Holocaust have not and will not be forgotten. Their names will always be remembered.
Unto Every Person There is a Name
"We were first told to undress - clothes on one side, shoes on other - then we entered the room, naked as the day of our birth. It was here that we were given a number and heard the Konzentrationlagerfuehrer [Concentration Camp Commandant] say: 'Fromthis day forth, you are all numbers. You no longer have names. You have no identities. You have no nationalities. All you haveis your number, and besides your number, you have nothing at all.'
Excerpt from the diary of Jacob, 17
Since 1955, Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes Remembrance Authority has been gathering the names of the victims of the Holocaust. Lists of deportees, inmates of concentration camps, Jews who lived in ghettoes and persons displaced after the war have been collected and stored. But the information contained in these lists was usually limited to name, date and place of origin. It was therefore decided to create "Pages of Testimony", to be filled by family members, friends or acquaintances of persons who had disappeared, or had been murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators. Data about the victim's family, his/her occupation, whereabouts during the war and the circumstances of his/her disappearance or death personalizes the tragedy of the intangible and anonymous "Six Million", says Alexander Avraham, Director of the Hall of Names at Yad Vashem.
By the end of the 1990s, some 800,000 Pages of Testimony had been collected, including tens of thousands of pages filled by immigrants from the former Soviet Union. But Avraham realized that time was running out.
Shortly before Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day in April 1999, Yad Vashem launched an international $1 million campaign entitled "Unto Every Person there is a Name". The aim was to collect the names of every man, woman and child killed during the Holocaust. The Nazis had taken away the names of their victims and replaced them with numbers; the project was to return their identities and commemorate them.
The response was overwhelming. More than 380,000 new testimonies have been submitted to date. Avraham credits much of the response to its timing. In the initial post-war years, he explains, survivors found the topic very difficult to address, or still clung to the belief that their loved ones had somehow survived. Others found the task of giving testimony, often concerning dozens of relatives and friends too daunting; some were simply too involved with rebuilding their shattered lives. As a result, relatively few Pages of Testimony arrived at Yad Vashem.
Today the climate has changed. In the past few years, the Holocaust has become a topic discussed worldwide, especially in the area of restoration of property. Also, members of the survivors' generation, now very advanced in years, have realized that this may be their last chance to formally record the fate of their relatives and friends.
An interesting phenomenon that has come to light in the course of the campaign is the special relationship between survivors and their grandchildren. Often, Alexander relates, survivors couldn't face telling their children about their experiences and the "second generation" grew up in an atmosphere of silence and grief. This silence was broken many years later, when grandparents told their stories to their grandchildren. An example of third-generation involvement is the case of 14-year-old Ron Haber from New Zealand. Ron was so moved by his visit to Yad Vashem a year ago that he took back home with him Pages of Testimony for his grandfather, a Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor, to fill. Ron's initiative came not a moment too soon, as his grandfather passed away several months later. In his memory, Ron, together with a teacher and some classmates, collected testimonies from all the Holocaust survivors in New Zealand - some 300 Pages of Testimony - and forwarded them to Yad Vashem.
Other private initiatives were taken by: a German priest and teacher who made it a class project to gather the names of Jews from their town who were killed during the Holocaust; and twelve-year-old Ben Wind from Texas, who wrote to Yad Vashem asking for 200 blank Pages of Testimony which he filled completed and returned in person when he came to celebrate his Bar-Mitzvah in Jerusalem later that year. The National Students' Union of Israel has pledged itself to the operation, and recruited dozens of students to help survivors fill out Pages of Testimony. Over 1,000 Pages were collected in this way from survivors now living in retirement homes in Israel. Abroad, Jewish organizations, community centers, newspapers and Israel's embassies have assisted local Yad Vashem societies with the project. However, only ten percent of the testimonies have come from outside of Israel, and Avraham believes that the project is still in need of more publicity abroad.
The Pages are made of special acid-free paper, and are available from Yad Vashem, by mail or e-mail in fourteen languages. Both sections (concerning the victim and the survivor) must be filled out, each form for one victim only (not groups or families) and the information must be about a victim of the Holocaust, not - albeit a tragedy - someone who perished in a pogrom before the war, a survivor who was killed after arrival in Israel, or an allied soldier killed in battle. There is a space on the form for a photograph of the victim; some four to five percent of the testimonies submitted have photos attached. Incomplete or photocopied forms are accepted, but only if they are signed and dated by hand, since they are considered legal documents.
In 1992, a comprehensive computer program was initiated, which facilitated access to the huge reservoir of information already collected. The program can also translate place names and personal names into different languages, which allows for quicker cross-referencing and identification of duplicate entries. This is vital since some 16 million names appear on the thousands of lists that Yad Vashem has obtained, and which contain multiple references to many people, as they were transferred from place to place. The program thus enables relatives to find out where their loved ones spent their last months, and where they died. Alexander hopes that one day this service will be available on the Internet.
A staff of 25 checks the completed pages on arrival at Yad Vashem. After being scanned into the computer, the Pages are placed in alphabetical order in memorial files - symbolic tombstones - in the Hall of Names, which is kept at a temperature and level of humidity necessary for their preservation. Next to the Hall is a room where visitors can use the five computer terminals to search for information about lost relatives and friends.
Searches at times turn up unexpected results. In 1941, Leonid Sheiman was separated from his family - parents, four brothers and a sister - and was drafted into the Soviet army. His efforts after the war to find members of his family were all in vain. In June 2000, five years after he immigrated from Poland, Leonid's daughter encouraged him to write to Yad Vashem. Researchers were able to tell him that in 1991, his brother Lazar, who had arrived in Israel in 1957, had filed Pages of Testimony regarding his family - including Leonid - all of whom he believed to be dead. After 59 years, the two brothers were reunited.
Altogether, the program contains some five million individual references. Avraham does not believe that all six million names will ever be collected: the biggest "hole", he explains, is Central Europe, where people were murdered where they lived - thus their names do not appear on any official lists - and where so few survived to give testimony.
By personalizing the individual tragedy of the victims and the survivors of the Holocaust, the project seeks to counteract trends of indifference and ignorance, and to discredit Holocaust deniers who seek to convince the world that the Holocaust never happened.
"With each name added," Alexander believes, "the memory of a whole life is revived. Every new name recorded in the Hall of Names is a victory against oblivion."
Unto Every Person There is a NameUnto every person there is a namebestowed on him by Godand given to him by his parents.Unto every person there is a nameaccorded him by his statureand type of smileand style of dress.Unto every person there is a nameconferred by the mountainsand the walls which surround him.Unto every person there is a namegranted him by Fortune's wheelor that which neighbors call him.Unto every person there is a nameassigned him by his failingsor contributed by his yearnings.Unto every person there is a namegiven to him by his enemiesor by his love.Unto every person there is a namederived from his celebrationsand his occupation. Unto every person there is a namepresented him by the seasonsand his blindness.Unto every person there is a namewhich he receives from the seaand is given to him by his death.
Zelda

Beth Shalom U.S.Y. Connects Tu B'Shvat and Pesach

Tu B’Shevat Plantings Yield Passover Fruit for Temple Students

Tu B’Shevat, the second full moon after the winter solstice during the third week in December marks the celebration in the Land of Israel of the produce of the trees and plants. In harmony with Israel, Jews throughout the world mark the occasion and celebrate by planting and eating of the produce of the Jewish National Homeland. At Palm Coast’s Temple Beth Shalom, young students planted as well, just as is done in Israel. This year’s crop included parsley plantings under the supervision of Educational Director Robyn Shapiro.

Students watched as the plants grew seed leaves and ultimately an ample crop under the ideal conditions of the grounds of the synagogue in Palm Coast. By Passover, the Festival of Freedom and the Holiday of Spring, the crops were ready for use as the traditional Karpas, or green vegetable used for dipping in salt water at the Seder meal on the first two nights of the eight day Feast.

Karpas is one of the traditional rituals in the Passover Seder. It refers to the vegetable, usually parsley or celery, that is dipped in liquid (usually salt water) and eaten. The liquid may be any of the seven which make food capable of becoming ritually impure, although salt-water or vinegar are usually used. The idea behind the salt water is to symbolize the salty tears that the Jews shed in their slavery in Egypt. The vegetables symbolize the coming of the spring.

Some have explained the dipping of the Karpas to symbolize the Biblical Joseph’s tunic being dipped into blood by his brothers. Karpas is therefore done at the beginning of the seder, just as Joseph's tunic being dipped into blood began, as the Book of Genesis describes, the Israelites descent to Egypt. Indeed, the word Karpas, in some languages, means cloth.

The educational technique connects students ever more closely to the most ancient of rituals, bringing to life in 21st century Palm Coast customs and ceremonies with 3000 year old roots in the biblical Middle East.

Rabbi Shapiro in Tallahassee to Protect Religious Freedoms for All Floridians

Rabbi Merrill Shapiro and Reverend Harry Parrot Consulting on Testimony Before Florida's Taxation and Budget Reform Commission



Rabbi Shapiro in Tallahassee to Protect Religious Freedoms for All Floridians

Rabbi Merrill Shapiro testified before the Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission as the group of political appointees was prepared to vote on an amendment to the state’s constitution that would repeal provisions limiting the use of tax dollars to support religious institutions. The commission was considering Constitutional Proposal CP 0020, “A resolution proposing an amendment to Section 3 of Article I of the State Constitution to repeal a limit on the use of public revenues in aid of religious organizations and entities, and to prohibit individuals and entities from being barred from participating in public programs because of their religion.”

The resolution grew out of a Florida Supreme Court decision in the case of Bush v. Holmes in which the justices relied on Florida’s Blaine Amendment, to invalidate the Opportunity Scholarship Program because the state was sending checks to religious schools, colleges and universities rather than to public institutions.

Rabbi Shapiro spoke in his capacity as Vice-President of the national Board of Trustees of Americans United for Separation of Church and State and was joined by Reverend Harry Parrott, a Baptist Minister from Clay County, Florida and representatives from the Anti-Defamation League, National Council of Jewish Women, People for the American Way and the Florida Education Association. In a letter to the commission, Shapiro argued for the retention of Florida’s Blaine Amendment, the constitutional provision prohibiting the expenditure of taxpayer dollars for religious purposes.