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History of the Temple Israel Remembrance Program

Because there is nothing new under the sun, we must always remember!

In the late 1990's, while attending Shabbat services at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale with their children, Sandra and Jerry Wine listened raptly as Rabbi Avi Weiss read the testimony of a Holocaust survivor who was remembering a Jewish community that had been destroyed by the Nazis. Energized by this moving tribute, Sandra returned to Temple Israel and discussed her experience with Rabbi Starr. He asked her to reach out to our membership and to seek remembrances that would highlight personal involvement in telling the stories of how the Jewish communities of Europe had disappeared. The rabbi read the first such memoir to the congregation as part of the Yizkor Service on Pesach1998.

Since then, four times a year, when we recite Yizkor, the Rabbi reads a new memoir, and the congregation stands in awe as one of our own shares the pain of his or her family history from the dark days of the holocaust. Sandra's love and sensitivity for K'lal Yisroel resulted in the production of a large number of very personal memorials. This, in turn, led Bruce Creditor and Eldad Ganin to create a compilation of the essays, along with a map of Europe showing the location of the destroyed communities. All of this work was rewarded in 2002 when Temple Israel received a Solomon Schechter Silver Award from the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

Today, the work of gathering, editing, and producing the ongoing memoirs is being carried out by Sharon Schulkind. In addition, many individuals have expressed an interest in making all of our precious memories available to the world at large. Now, with the help of Aaron Ginsburg, and in coordination with Temple Israel's Holocaust Committee, many of our Yizkor remembrances will be distributed over the Internet throughout the world.

To all who have played a role in generating the ideas and in bringing them to fruition, Yasher Koach. In response to the command to remember, we state clearly that indeed, we do remember.

Ellen Rothberg
Executive Vice President &
Vice President of Jewish Communal Life
Temple Israel, Sharon, Massachusetts

More Information

Introduction to the Memorial

History of the Program

Researching Communities

Map of Remembered Towns

All Communities