Howard County’s annual Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, event is set to happen virtually Monday night.
The Jewish Federation of Howard County, the Howard County Board of Rabbis and Howard County’s Yom HaShoah committee will be using a website and video chat service Zoom to create a virtual commemoration in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
It became clear during the committee’s March meeting that physical assembly for this year’s commemoration could not happen, said committee chair Rabbi Craig Axler, who leads Temple Isaiah in Fulton.
Yom HaShoah is a “set day on the Jewish calendar and that’s one of those things we wrestle with. It’s not exactly a holiday, in the sense of the word; it’s a modern invention, but it is very much a date. Its date on the calendar [is] enshrined in Jewish life,” said Axler, 47, of Clarksville.
Using the technical skills of committee members, the group created a website that mirrors the Holocaust artifacts exhibit that attendees would have walked through if there were a physical event.
The benefit of the website feature, Axler said, is people can visit it in their own time.
“Being able to create this online gathering emphasizes the sacredness of this memory,” he said.
The committee has set up a 7 p.m. real-time Zoom event Monday, which will include a keynote address from Don Goldstein, the son of concentration camp liberator Sol Goldstein, a lifelong Baltimore resident.
“My father, Sol Goldstein, [who] passed away three years ago, was a frequent speaker in many schools and institutions across Maryland and the mid-Atlantic states,” said Goldstein, 66, who currently lives in Dallas. “He did make it his life’s mission to go around to schools to make sure that people knew what had happened.”
In 1945, Goldstein’s father was among the first American troops in World War II to liberate concentration camps in Germany. Now Goldstein keeps that legacy alive by telling his father’s story. On Monday, he will tell a Howard County audience that story via Zoom.
“Speaking virtually over a Zoom meeting is never going to have the same impact as a live audience,” Goldstein said. “On the other hand, there’s the opportunity to reach a lot more people. The fact that they’re still allowing me the opportunity to do this, and to do this live, that’s still very meaningful and will have an impact.”
Shauna Leavery, program director at the Jewish Federation of Howard County, said Yom HaShoah is a day of memory and learning, something that could and should continue virtually.
“We feel it’s really important to honor the past and help the community learn from the past,” said Leavey, 42, an Owings Mills resident.
After Goldstein finishes his keynote address, virtual attendees will be able to participate in a question-and-answer session, a feature that wasn’t originally part of the in-person plan.
“We’re fortunate that we were able to add an aspect, something that wouldn’t have happened in a live session,” Leavey said.
For more information about the virtual event, go to jewishhowardcounty.org/yomhashoah.