Community Corner
SOMA Interfaith Holocaust Memorial Service
SOUTH ORANGE/MAPLEWOOD INTERFAITH
HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE SERVICE TO BE HELD APRIL 27 AT TEMPLE
SHAREY TEFILO-ISRAEL
ORIGINAL DRAMATIC NARRATIVE PRESENTED FOR 37th ANNUAL PROGRAM
annual South Orange/Maplewood Interfaith Holocaust Remembrance Service, the
first of its kind in New Jersey, honors the memories of 11 million Jews, Roma, handicapped people, Slavs, political prisoners and homosexuals killed in the Shoah; and the lives of survivors, Army
liberators and righteous gentiles.
This year, the Remembrance Service
features original dramatic narrative, based on the testimony of 20 local men
and women who survived the Holocaust.
The program recalls experiences in Nazi work camps and death camps,
hiding under the protection of Gentile neighbors and friends, escapes to neutral
or Allied countries, and United States
military service with the Monuments Men.
The creative expression of the
collective survivor stories is the result of a collaborative effort by Temple
Sharey Tefilo-Israel (TSTI) Cantors Rebecca Moses and Joan Finn, and congregant
Russell Kaplan. Community residents, among them professional and
non-professional actors from South Orange and Maplewood houses of worship, as
well as Seton Hall University theatre students, will participate. Musical selections will accompany the
readings, and will encompass a wide variety of genres and melodies. Voices in
Harmony, an interfaith chorus directed by long-time South
Orange resident Cantor Perry Fine, will also perform during the
service.
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The Remembrance Service
committee will honor South Orange
Middle School art teacher Ellen
Hark with the Sister Rose Thering Holocaust Education Award, recognizing Ms.
Hark’s commitment to Sister Rose’s belief that education will make the world a
more tolerant place. For several years,
Ms. Hark has coordinated an exhibit of original interpretive artwork by
students, inspired by their conversations with Holocaust survivors. On April 27, the artwork will be displayed in
TSTI’s Green Social Hall, which is where Ms. Hark’s Award will be presented
following the service.
Clergy from nearly 20 Jewish, Catholic and Protestant houses of worship in South Orange and Maplewood, as well as officials from both communities and long-time associates of the SOMA Interfaith Holocaust Remembrance service will be present.
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The Remembrance Service is free of
charge and open to the public. The community is encouraged to bring cans and
boxes of non-perishable food donations to the event for later distribution by
the Food Bank of New Jersey. For more details and background, contact the
organizers at rememberandtell@gmail.com
or visit www.rememberandtell.org.