Community-wide memorial on Wednesday

Dr. David Marwell, the historian and director of the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, is the featured speaker Wednesday night at the community-wide commemoration of Yom Hashoah. Holocaust Remembrance Day, as it is known in English, falls out annually on Nisan 27. Because Jewish days always begin at sundown of the previous day, this year, on the secular calendar, the commemoration begins at sundown on Wednesday and continues until after sundown on Thursday.

This year, the community-wide event will be held at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Temple Beth Sholom, 40-25 Fair Lawn Avenue, in Fair Lawn.

The annual event is sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey and is co-chaired by Rosalind Melzer and Allyn Michaelson. For information, call (201) 797-9321, or e-mail Dr. Wallace Greene at wmg14c@gmail.com.

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Week of April 15

Sunday

Jersey City

A community Yom Hashoah gathering is at Congregation B’nai Jacob, co-sponsored by Temple Beth-El. Guest speaker and performance by United Synagogue of Hoboken choir. 3 p.m. (201) 435-5725.

Emerson

Congregation B’nai Israel marks Yom Hashoah with poetry, readings, and annual candle-lighting in memory of the Six Million. An additional 18 candles will be lit to symbolize “chai,” the Hebrew number signifying life.
7 p.m. (201) 265-2272 or www.bisrael.com.

Ridgewood

The annual interfaith Holocaust Remembrance service, organized by Ridgewood Village’s Inter-Religious Fellowship, is at Temple Israel and JCC. Rev. Harry Green of the First Unitarian Society in Pomona, N.Y., an active member of the Interfaith Religious Leaders of Ridgewood, and a resident of Ridgewood, discusses “As We Remember, Let Us Allow for a Vision of Goodness.” The service will be led by clergy representing Jewish, Christian, Hindu, and Muslim communities of Ridgewood. 7:30 p.m. (201) 444-9320.

Tuesday

Fair Lawn

Café Europa, a program of Jewish Family Service of North Jersey and the Fair Lawn Jewish Center, presents Mordecai Paldiel, former director of the department of the righteous at Yad Vashem. Transportation available. (973) 595-0111. Café Europa is made possible by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany and private donations. At the synagogue
11 a.m. (201) 796-5040.

Wednesday

Mahwah

The Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies of Ramapo College and Temple Beth Haverim Shir Shalom hold a joint Yom Hashoah commemoration at the shul. Benjamin Levin, a member of a Jewish partisan brigade that joined the Red Army in liberating Vilna, the “Jerusalem of Lithuania,” will speak. Service led by Rabbi Joel Mosbacher, including music by the choir the Ramapo Chorale and CantaNOVA, under the direction of Lisa Lutter, associate professor of choral music at Ramapo. 7 p.m. Michael Riff, (201) 684-7409.

Englewood

A community Yom Hashoah commemoration is at Congregation Ahavath Torah, co-sponsored by the East Hill Synagogue, Kehillat Kesher, and Kol HaNeshamah.
8 p.m. (201) 568-1315.

Thursday

Tenafly

Shoah survivor Fanya Gottesfeld Heller speaks at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades. A documentary, “Teenage Witness: The Fanya Heller Story,” narrated by Richard Gere, was released in 2010. It was based on her memoir, “Love in the World of Sorrow.” Included in the commemorative event will be the presentation of the Abe Oster Holocaust Remembrance award; performances by the SAR Student Choir, students of the JCC Thurnauer School of Music, and Abraham Barzelay; Rabbi Yitzchak Gershovitz of Lubavitch on the Palisades; members of the Israeli Scouts, Troop Masada; and Shoah survivors from area synagogues. Sponsored by the Martin Perlman and Jo-Ann Hassan Holocaust Education Institute Endowment Fund. 7 p.m. (201) 408-1426, or
e-mail sgolden@jccotp.org.

Woodcliff Lake

The sisterhood of Temple Emanuel of the Pascack Valley and Pascack Valley/Northern Valley chapter of Hadassah offer a joint program honoring Shoah survivors living in the community. The event will take place at the synagogue. Simon Jeruchim, a survivor and author of “Hidden in France,” will speak and show slides of the art work he produced during his days as a hidden child. 7:30 p.m. (201) 573-0377 or e-mail ronniebsilver@yahoo.com.

Teaneck

Deborah E. Lipstadt, internationally recognized author, professor, and historian, is the guest speaker at the Jewish Community Council of Teaneck’s annual Holocaust commemoration in the Teaneck High School auditorium. The event honors survivors and their families on the 73rd anniversary of the Shoah. Lipstadt is the Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust studies at Emory University and author of “The Eichman Trial” and other books.

There will also be a special musical performance by Zalmen Mlotek, artistic director of The National Yiddish Theatre-Folksbiene, and his sons, Avram and Elisha.
7:30 p.m. Dena Levie, (917) 334-0937.

Friday

Closter

Temple Beth El combines Shabbat services with a Yom Hashoah commemoration led by Interim Rabbi Jim Simon, Cantor Rica Timman, and the seventh grade class, 7:30 p.m. (201) 768-5112.

Week of April 22

Sunday

Wanaque

Holocaust survivor Phillip Bialowitz, one of eight living survivors of the Nazi death camp, Sobibor, where an estimated 250,000 Jews perished, speaks to Chabad of Upper Passaic County, at the Wanaque Golden Age Club, 7 p.m. (201) 696-7609.

Monday

Teaneck

The Teaneck-Hackensack Chapter of Hadassah presents the award-winning film “Paper Clips” at the the Teaneck Public Library. Matthew Hiltzik, producer will give an introduction to the film and answer questions at the conclusion. Refreshments will be served. This program is open to the public. 12:30 p.m. For further information, contact Inge at 201-837-2948.

Wednesday

River Edge

“Only a Number,” an award-winning documentary about a couple who met in a concentration camp and fell in love, giving each other strength to survive, will be shown at the River Edge Public Library, 685 Elm Avenue, River Edge. Their son, filmmaker Steven Besserman, will introduce the program and take questions. Event is co-sponsored by Friends of the Library, River Edge Cultural Center, and River Dell Hadassah.
1 p.m. (201) 261-1663.