Morris Park rabbi refl ects on the Holocaust
BY JASON COHEN
With very few survivors
of the Holocaust still alive today,
education is now more
important now more than
ever to teach what took place
in Germany, Russia and Poland
during WWII. To highlight
National Holocaust Remembrance
Day on Jan. 27, the
Bronx Times spoke with Rabbi
Saadia Pewzner of the Bronx
Jewish Center in Morris Park.
In 2005, the U.N. General
Assembly established Jan. 27
as International Holocaust Remembrance
Day commemorating
the anniversary of the
liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau,
the largest Nazi concentration
camp. During the war
more than six million Jews
were killed in a genocide perpetrated
by the Nazis.
Recent events like the hostage
situation at a synagogue
in Texas on Jan. 15 — all the
hostages were freed and the
suspect was killed — remind
people of the hatred still exists
toward the Jewish people,
the rabbi said. Sadly, that incident
didn’t come as a surprise,
he added.
“The reason why Holocaust
remembrance is important because
as years go on, people always
try to say to themselves
it can never happen again,”
the rabbi said. “Unfortunately,
we’re constantly reminded
why it could happen again.”
One survivor Pewzner will
never forget is Sam Solasz,
founder of Master Purveyors
in the Hunts Point Meat Market,
who lost all 13 members
of his family in the Holocaust.
Since Solasz’s passing in 2019,
Pewzner often goes to the market
and does kaddish in his
honor, a service to remember
the dead. Now, because of Solasz’s
determination to survive
thousands can eat every day.
Pewzner believes that Solasz’s
story and millions of others
about the Holocaust should
be taught in public schools
citywide. People need to know
what took place in Nazi Germany
and the concentration
camps, he said.
On Jan. 27, a City Council
resolution was introduced that
would require the state education
commissioner to conduct
a study of New York state’s
more than 700 school districts
and submit a report assessing
the effectiveness of Holocaust
teachings.
BRONX TIMES R 24 REPORTER, FEB. 4-10, 2022 BTR
Bill A472A was introduced
by state Assemblywoman Nily
Rozic, a Queens Democrat who
thanked City Councilman Eric
Dinowitz, a Riverdale Progressive,
and Councilwoman Marjorie
Velázquez, a Throggs
Neck Democrat, for highlighting
the issue at the city level.
According to Pewzner,
there will always be people
who hate different races, ethnicities
and religions. The
rabbi said hate is not something
one acquires, but instead
it is engrained in them by their
family or environment.
Throughout time, people
have often blamed Jews for
their problems, he said.
“Every time people suffer
and are having a diffi cult
time, they look for a scapegoat,”
he said, adding that oftentimes
this scapegoats are
the Jews.
Bronx Jewish Center Rabbi Saadia Pewzner refl ects on Holocaust Remembrance
With rampant instances
of anti-Semitism all over social
media, the hostage situation
at the temple in Texas,
the vandalizing of synagogues
in Riverdale last year and the
deadly Tree of Life Synagogue
shooting in Pittsburgh in 2018
that killed 11 people, many
Jews do not feel safe, Pewzner
Day. File photo
said.
The day of the Texas hostage
situation, the rabbi was
in the middle of Shabbat services
when he saw police cars
outside his Morris Park synagogue.
But since he can’t use
electronics on the Sabbath,
he had no idea why they were
there. He soon found out and
was shaken.
“It’s very hard to tell someone
they’re absolutely safe
(at synagogue),” he said. “I’m
never going to accept that this
is the normal way of life.”
Pewzner said even with all
the hatred and crime, it’s important
to rise above it.
“Our challenge is, we have
to make more good than evil,”
he said.