Yom Hashoah/ Holocaust Remembrance Service

I just got a notice from the Duxbury Interfaith Council (http://www.duxinterfaith.com/) about an upcoming service.  I really hope I can go to this.  I remember reading so many children's and young adult books about the Holocaust and wondering how it could have happened.  While I think I understand a little more now, it still surprises me each time I read about the genocides and attempted genocides that continue to happen around the world.  When will we learn? Why do we hate? Is it all about power?  In any case, the power of evil is still alive and well, and ignoring it just gives it more space to work. I know that death is NEVER the end of the story; how tragic and evil that the very passion, death, and resurrection that shows us this, that gives us hope, was used and no doubt is still used as an excuse for death-dealing and hate. We all need to make ourselves actively available to work for life and peace among all God's people, all God's creation.  Remembering and standing with those who have suffered is a first step.

Irene Levin Berman, author of "We Are Going to Pick Potatoes," will share her experiences as a survivor of the Holocaust.

SURVIVOR OF THE HOLOCAUST TO GIVE TESTIMONY

Congregation Shirat Hayam will sponsor its annual Interfaith Holocaust Remembrance Service, Yom Hashoah, on April 28, 7 PM.  The service will be held at the Congregation, 185 Plain St. in Marshfield (The Sanctuary Church). 

Irene Levin Berman will make actual testimony to the atrocities of the Holocaust. She was born and raised in Norway.  As a young child in 1942 she escaped to Sweden, a neutral country in World War II to avoid annihilation.  Nazi Germany had invaded Norway and the deportation of two thousand Norwegian Jews had begun.  Seven members of her father’s immediate family were among the 771 victims who were unable to escape and were murdered in Auschwitz.

In 2005 Irene was forced to begin to examine the label of being a Holocaust survivor.  Her strong dual identity as a Norwegian and a Jew led her to explore previously unopened doors in her mind.  Her book “We Are Going to Pick Potatoes": Norway And The Holocaust, The Untold Story is not a narrative of the Holocaust alone, but the remembrances of growing up Jewish in Norway during and after World War II.  Irene is living testimony to the atrocities.

Congregation Shirat Hayam invites all members of the community including youth groups and religious school classes to attend the educational experience.  To arrange for large groups or more information please call 781-582-2700. 

Congregation Shirat Hayam, Marshfield MA

If you would like to know more about this congregation, you may visit their website: http://www.shirathayam.net/about.htm