Kristallnacht commemoration tonight in Scotch Plains
Congregation Beth Israel in Scotch Plains will commemorate the anniversary of Kristallnacht tonight, November 8, at 7:30 p.m. Congregants Debra Feldman and Randi Zucker, both descendants of Holocaust survivors, will speak during services, and an oneg Shabbat will follow.
“In light of a recent rise in antisemitism, it is more important than ever to learn about the Holocaust and hear stories of survivors,” Rita Geller said. Ms. Geller co-chairs the synagogue’s Second/Third Generation Holocaust Survivors Group, the program’s sponsor, with Faye Bodenstein and Claire Bornstein.
Ms. Feldman’s grandmother, Bella, experienced Kristallnacht in Berlin firsthand; soon afterward, Bella put her two children — Debra’s mother, Joan, who was 4, and her uncle, Herbert, 6 — on a Kindertransport to England, traveling with strangers to a foreign place and into the arms of an aunt and uncle they had never met. Both siblings eventually came to the United States, where they married and had families; their lives were affected by their traumatic history.
Ms. Zucker loves to tell her grandmother Sylvia’s story because it shows that Jews lived full lives before World War II, celebrating holiday,s, playing, and working. Sylvia lived in Czechoslovakia and was taken with her family to the Munkacz Ghetto in 1944. She survived Auschwitz and several other concentration camps, demonstrating small acts of resistance when she could.
The Second/Third Generation Holocaust Survivors group, created at CBI, also includes participants from other area synagogues and the community. For information, call (908) 889-1830.
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