How do Reform congregations commemorate Kristallnacht?
Kristallnacht, which literally means, “the night of broken glass,” occurred on the night of November 9, 1938, and marks the beginning of the Holocaust. On Kristallnacht, Jewish homes, synagogues, and businesses were destroyed by the Nazis and the streets in Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe were covered with glass from the shattered windows of synagogues, Jewish homes, and businesses.
Unless You Know: A Poem for Yom HaShoah
Unless you know
what it is to look
at black & white proof
at lambs led to slaughter
at herds of the lost
What an Atheist Belgian Musician Taught Me about Judaism
As a teenager, I would sit on my bedroom floor listening to old records of Belgian singer-songwriter, poet, and performer Jacques Brel. I didn’t need to keep a journal, because his lyrics wove together everything I felt at the time. Brel had a fire within, and his anger, longing, passion, and truth blazed through every word he sang. His music, raw and real, transformed and fed my soul; it informed and shaped who I am today.
What I'll Never Forget about My Visit to Majdanek
I recently visited Majdanek, a concentration camp in Poland, with my classmates. Afterward, I wrote this piece - part poem and part essay - about what spoke to me there.
Preserving the Truth About World War II Vilna
“NOVA”’s new one-hour film, “Holocaust Escape Tunnel,” reminds us that in an era of alternative facts, science and history still can separate fact from fiction.
Honoring Jewish Rescuers this Holocaust Remembrance Day
More than a half century after the Holocaust, it is surely time that we acknowledge that saving one’s own is worthy of recognition and praise. Jews everywhere ought to take pride in these heroes of their own people.
This Synagogue Embraced a New Narrative for Teaching the Holocaust
Have you ever noticed that when we teach the Holocaust, we let the perpetrators dictate the story for us? We use their pictures and their propaganda to tell our story, forgetting that their agenda was to dehumanize the Jews.
How Technology Can Help Us Carry on Jewish Traditions
A high school student explains what he learned about Jewish tradition from his experience developing a smartphone app for a virtual Yom HaShoah candle.
Why I Believe in Ghosts
Read about one man’s conviction that he was summoned to Poland by his ancestral spirits to receive their desperate plea: Do not forget us!