—Participants include Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Israeli Consul General Asaf Zamir, Rabbi Amy B. Ehrlich, Steven Skybell, the HaZamir International Jewish Teen Choir, Holocaust Survivors Toby Levy, Jerry Lindenstraus, and Ilana Yaari, and Others—
(New York, NY)— The Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust will present New York’s Annual Gathering of Remembrance on Sunday, April 16, 2023, at 2:00 PM ET. The program will be held in-person for the first time since 2019, and the Museum is glad to be returning to Temple Emanu-El of New York City after the hiatus. The annual program is part of the Museum’s Yom HaShoah tribute and serves the organization’s mission to “never forget” and honor the memory of those who were lost during the Holocaust, as well as survivors and their descendants. This memorial serves as a reminder of the dangers of intolerance and envisions a brighter future. The Annual Gathering of Remembrance program will feature music, remarks from Holocaust survivors and public figures, and a moving candle lighting ceremony.
The event will take place the day before Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, which begins on the evening of Monday, April 17 and concludes at sundown on Tuesday, April 18. The event will also be livestreamed online on the Museum’s website at mjhnyc.org/agr and YouTube channel at youtube.com/MuseumJewishHeritage.
“This moment is one of the most important days of the year, when we honor the memory of all the brave souls who perished and show solidarity with those who survived one of the most horrific chapters in our world’s history,” says the Museum’s Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Bruce Ratner. “We have a responsibility to carry on the legacies of those we lost, and to continue fighting prejudice and hate and make the world a more understanding place.”
“The Annual Gathering of Remembrance is essential to our mission at the Museum. We are proud to gather on this day to remember those who were lost in the Holocaust and those survivors who we’ve lost in the past year,” says Jack Kliger, President and CEO of the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. “We are also uplifted by the second, third, and fourth generation survivors who will join us in song and candle lighting, as our memories move l’dor va’dor, from generation to generation. This tribute will welcome multiple generations in person here in New York, a city with one of the world’s largest communities of Holocaust survivors, as loved ones and community members from around the world also tune in virtually.”
The event is co-chaired by Museum Board members Rita Lerner and Ann Oster. The Annual Gathering of Remembrance Committee includes Melissa Berger, Alyssa Greengrass, Lucy Horowitz, Lauren Jacobs, Jennifer Klein, Eliese Lissner, Alissa Rozen, Seth Weisleder, and Ben Zurkow.
“It is an honor to come together in person to remember the lives of those who were lost in the Holocaust and to read the names of survivors whom we’ve lost in the past year at Temple Emanu-El,” says Museum Trustee Rita Lerner, the daughter of two Holocaust survivors and the event Co-Chair.
Speakers will include Museum President and CEO Jack Kliger, Board President Bruce Ratner, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Israeli Consul General Asaf Zamir, Rabbi Amy B. Ehrlich, and others. Musical guests will include Joyce Rosenzweig, Stephen Skybell, Valeriya Sholokhova, the HaZamir: The International Jewish Teen Choir, and more.
Anyone wishing to attend the Annual Gathering of Remembrance or view it online should RSVP at mjhnyc.org/agr.
A number of organizations are partnering with the Museum to create the ceremony. These include:
14Y, 3GNY, Anti-Defamation League, Association of Jewish Refugees, The Blue Card, Cardozo Institute in Holocaust and Human Rights, Democratic Majority for Israel, Derfner Judaica Museum, Emil A. and Jenny Fish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Yeshiva University, Fundatia Tarbut Sighet, Cultura si Educatie Iudaica, Generations of the Shoah International, HaZamir: The International Jewish Teen Choir, Holocaust Resource Center & Diversity Council on Global Education and Citizenship / The Holocaust Resource Center of Kean University, Jewish Community Centre of Krakow, Jewish Community Council of Greater Coney Island, Jewish Democratic Council of America, Jewish Democratic Council of America, Jewish Quarterly, Leo Baeck Institute, Maimonides Institute for Medicine, Ethics, and the Holocaust (MIMEH), Moment Magazine, Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience, National Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah (MEIS), The Abraham Global Peace Initiative, The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, The Mitzvah Project, The New York Board of Rabbis. WE ARE HERE! Foundation, Worker’s Circle, and Yiddish Book Center. This list is in formation.