June 10, 2002

Joanne Jackson Yelenik
faculty

The class of 2003 presented a Yom HaShoah Remembrance Day reflective of the efforts and visions of students who, under the supervision of the Jewish History Department, became, for the purposes of the day, artists, program designers, teachers, technicians, architects, writers, singers, actors, directors, dancers, and historians.

The day brought forth the involvement of some who had never before integrated the material of the Holocaust in so personal and active a way. Mrs. Edith Lowie, whose personal monologue, as is the case with the tales of survivors, enriched the day, and made the historical events, palpable, commented: “The students were wonderful.” Whether the glass is half-full or half-empty is often in the eyes of the beholder.

If the “over time” of a Holocaust commemoration is irksome in a way distinct from how an “overtime” of a spectator sport event is thrilling, then we need to ask ourselves, “What are our priorities?” The challenge posed by the question of priorities is a formidable one.

Rather than evaluate the commemoration day, Becky Eisenstadt’s letter might well have focused on not only how we “enter” Holocaust Remembrance Day, literally and figuratively, but on how we take our “leave” of it. In truth, Holocaust Remembrance Day is lived by each of us every single day; its program makes up the substance of our lives as Jews, and as people. Ultimately, Holocaust remembrance is more suited to our diary entries, and self improvement, rather than to letters to the editor, and communal evaluation.