Events on May 1 and May 2 provide the opportunity for members of the Elon community to gather to commemorate those killed during the Holocaust.
Standing on the front steps of Moseley Center Wednesday morning, Joelle Perlin '20 read the first name from a list of thousands as part of a commemoration of those killed during the Holocaust. Throughout the day on Wednesday, others would follow Perlin, taking a turn at the microphone to read a selection of names from the millions killed during a horrific period of human history.
The reading of the names is just one way the Elon community will be commemorating those killed during the Holocaust as part of Yom Hashoah, or "Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust and Heroism."
On Thursday, May 2, at 9:50 a.m. in the Numen Lumen Pavilion, a ceremony of remembrance will be held to further commemorate the lives of those lost, with the ceremony organized by Boaz Avraham-Karz in the Department of World Languages and Cultures and by Rabbi Sandra Lawson, associate chaplain for Jewish life.
Also on Thursday, Elon will join with other colleges and universities across the country in the 2019 Remembrance Readings, a program organized by the National Jewish Theater Foundation and the Holocaust Theater International Initiative.
The Remembrance Readings initiative is composed of simultaneous events drawing upon the power of theater to honor Holocaust victims and survivors. The effort is designed to stimulate an appreciation of how the art of theater can and must be used as a tool to deepen the understanding of the Holocaust and its lessons in contemporary society.
Sponsored at Elon by Jewish Studies program, this year’s event will feature excerpts from "The Book of Ruth" by Deborah Lynn Frockt, and is directed and produced by Elon senior and Jewish studies minor Sara Wasserman.
The readings will take place from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 2, in the Sacred Space in the Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life and will be immediately followed by a panel discussion. The event is organized by Kim Shively, assistant professor of performing arts, and Sara Wasserman '19. More details are available here.
On Wednesday, Perlin began the Reading of the Names by noting the recent fatal shooting at the Chabad of Poway synagogue outside San Diego that left one dead and three injured, and the shooting last year at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in which 11 were killed. That makes these commemorative events more poignant, and emphasizes that they are still necessary, she said.
The Reading of the Names was organized by Andrea Sinn, assistant professor of history, and Hillary Zaken, assistant director of Jewish life.