Yom Hashoah 2021: A Unique
Holocaust Memorial Program
BY JILL DAVIS
The pandemic has forced many
things to be adapted over the
past year, but the creative
members of North Shore Towers’
Migdal Hadassah and Special
Projects Committee would not let
obstacles prevent Yom Hashoah to
go by unnoticed. In the absence of
being able to congregate, a special
video was produced and telecast on
NST’s Channel 995 in April. Eva
Kessner, co-president of the Migdal
Chapter, introduced the film and
served as emcee throughout the
program. “Sadly,” she said, “we can’t
meet in person so we will have parts
recently recorded as well as parts
from previous years when we were
all together in Towers on the Green.”
Eva acknowledged the challenge
of the pandemic and noted its
ironic parallel to the Holocaust.
“It’s kind of hard to focus on
remembering the Holocaust when
so many of us are mourning the
loss of family members and friends
during this terrible pandemic,”
she said. “But in a way there is a
connection: An example is Albert
Bourla, the head of Pfizer, who has
led the development of the MRNA
vaccine for Covid-19 that is saving
lives worldwide. Bourla’s parents
barely survived the Holocaust…his
mother was 5 minutes away from
being shot in a Nazi firing line.
We are here to memorialize all the
victims of the Holocaust.”
Eva introduced NST Board
member and Chair of the Special
Projects Committee, Bob Ricken,
who welcomed viewers to the
program. “I want to welcome you
to this very special program presented
to the NST community. Our
thanks go to Hadassah, the NST
Board and the Special Projects
Committee for making this possible.
It’s incumbent upon all of us
to stand up against the worldwide
anti-Semitism.”
Rabbi Gordon Yaffe of
Congregation L’Dor V’Dor,
Oakland Little Neck Jewish Center,
gave the invocation. He said in
part, “It is important to remember
the devastation, but this day was
also meant to celebrate the strength
of those who resisted…who rose
up to embrace Jewish life and be
engaged…may the memories of all
who perished be a blessing.”
The candle lighting ceremony
is always a poignant part of the
program, and Eva introduced
viewers to the 2018 ceremony over
which Marcia Jacobson presided.
It began with Shirley Zeller, whose
husband, Joe, was a Czech survivor
of Auschwitz, but who passed
away and never had the opportunity
to light a candle. Rosalie and
Sidney Simon approached next,
followed by Hilda Schwartz, Irene
Greenwald and Erica Nordhauser,
who lit the last of the six candles
representing the 6 million victims
of the Holocaust.
Eva then introduced Dr. Nurit
Israeli in a newly recorded segment
for the program. “My paternal
grandfather, Chaim Breslauer,
was murdered in Auschwitz exactly
one week before I was born,”
Nurit said, “and three of his four
children and their families perished
in concentration camps.”
She continued, “My father was
his family’s sole survivor. I am my
father’s only daughter, so carrying
the torch of his legacy has been
my birthright.” Nurit then read a
special poem entitled “A Visit to
Auschwitz” which she wrote after
she visited there. “It was written in
memoriam of my grandfather, and
of all my other family members who
perished in the Holocaust,” she
said. The poem is reprinted here.
The film also included Danielle
Drucker’s lovely rendition of the
Yiddish lullaby “Rozhinkes mit
Mandlen (Raisins and Almonds)”
which she sang to honor the spirit
of her late grandmother, former
NST resident Dolly Belkin.
Eva then introduced Rosalie
Simon, who gave an incredibly
moving testimony in 2018’s program.
In it, Rosalie told of the
horrors of her experiences at the
hands of the Nazis when she
was only 12. Rosalie was born in
Czechoslovakia, the youngest of six
children, five girls and a boy. It was
Passover of 1944 when she and her
parents, sisters and brother, were
forced to leave their home and join
other Jewish families in a designated
area. Eventually, everyone was
relocated by train to Auschwitz.
Those who were young and
strong were segregated to the right,
while those considered too old or
weak were directed to the left, but
of course none of the victims knew
that. Rosalie and her mother were
put to the left while her father, sisters
and brother were forced to the
right. Rosalie heard an announcement
that those heading left would
be treated to more bread, so she
decided she would get her sisters
and brother so they would also get
more bread. She snuck away from
her mother and found the rest of
her family. “I found out later that
the announcement I heard over
the loudspeaker was a big lie. Not
only was there no bread, but all
those people on the left…were
heading unknowingly straight to
the gas chambers.” Those people
included Rosalie’s mother, and she
never saw her again.
Reunited with her sisters, they
were crowded into barracks. One
day, it was announced the Nazis
were looking for young, healthy
women to be sent to Germany to
work. Rosalie was hopeful; maybe
she’d get out of Auschwitz alive.
The Auschwitz doctor, the infamous
Dr. Josef Mengele, arrived
to evaluate who was fit enough to
go, which actually meant he would
decide who would live and who
would die. Rosalie was thin and
frail. She pinched her cheeks and
stood straight to look healthy, but
it didn’t work—Mengele ordered
her to be taken away and detained
in a separate room. She screamed,
sobbed and pleaded, “Don’t leave
me here! Somebody, please let me
out! I don’t want to die!”
But then a young mother came
into the room with her child,
choosing to die with her child than
be left without her. Rosalie believes
this mother’s sacrifice made it possible
for an extraordinary event
to occur: A young, red-headed
Dani Drucker sang to honor her
grandmother, Dolly Belkin
Candle Lighting Ceremony, 2018
Rosalie Simon
8 NORTH SHORE TOWERS COURIER ¢ May 2021