Palm Beach synagogues to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day

Palm Beach Daily News
Updated ·3 min read
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A holocaust survivor lights a remembrance candle during Yom Hashoah at Tradition of the Palm Beaches in 2018.
A holocaust survivor lights a remembrance candle during Yom Hashoah at Tradition of the Palm Beaches in 2018.

Island synagogues are commemorating Yom HaShoah, which falls on Monday this year, in a variety of ways.

Here are activities planned in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day:

Temple Emanu-El

The synagogue gets things started during Shabbat services on Saturday with "A Child's Story of Survival."

Gerry Kraus, who was born in Berlin in 1933, will recount his harrowing experiences of surviving the Nazis, first by hiding in a small farming village in Brandenburg, Germany, and then living underground in Berlin for several years until he was finally reunited with his parents, who had been forced into slave labor when he was 8.

The 9:30 a.m. service will include music by Cantor Meir Finkelstein, a special prayer and a brief history of the “yellow candle” that helps honor the approximately 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust.

Temple Emanu-El is at 190 N. County Road. For more information, call 561-832-0804 or visit tepb.org.

Palm Beach Synagogue

There are several events planned at the synagogue, starting Monday.

  • "Spots of Light": This art exhibition features nine aspects of a Jewish woman’s daily life during the Holocaust: Love, Motherhood, Caring for Others, Womanhood, Resistance and Rescue, Friendship, Faith, Food and the Arts. Co-produced by Palm Beach Synagogue and The Gross Family Center for the Study of Antisemitism and The Holocaust, the exhibit will be on display at the synagogue from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through April 21.

  • Evening of Commemoration: The Oscar-winning documentary "One Survivor Remembers" will be screened at 7:30 p.m. Monday. The film is Gerda Weissman's account of living through the Holocaust. In 1939, German troops invaded her home in Beilsko, Poland. She spent three years in slave-labor camps, until she was forced to walk in the infamous 350-mile death march in which 2,000 women were subjected to exposure, starvation, and arbitrary execution.

  • Name Reading Ceremony: Following the 8 a.m. service on Tuesday, there will be a continuous reading of the Yad Vashem database listing of men, women and children killed by the Nazis and their collaborators, from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

The synagogue is 120 N County Road. at For more information or to register for any event, call 561-838-9002, ext. 4 or visit www.palmbeachsynagogue.org.

Chabad House

As part of its Torah Institute lecture series, the Chabad House Palm Beach will host a Holocaust Memorial Evening at 5:30 p.m. April 26.

Guest speaker Herman Frances will talk about his life, from childhood in Nazi-occupied Holland, to a post-war life in Venezuela that included jail in Caracas and flying a plane on his own.

The temple is at 361 S. County Road. For more information or to register for the lecture, call 561-659-3884 or visit www.palmbeachjewish.com.

New Synagogue

A special prayer will be recited for the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust during Thursday's Yizkor memorial service.

Rabbi Barak Bar-Chaim will devote his sermon at Shabbat's Saturday morning service to the six million and Yom HaShoah.

The temple is at 235 Sunrise Ave. For more information, call 561-514-4064 or visit www.newsynagogue.org.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Palm Beach synagogues to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day