Aliza Levy-Erber

Aliza Levy-Erber is a Rabbinic Pastor, Podiatric physician, College Professor, and Hebrew teacher. She is also a Playwright whose play, Holocaust Syndrome, was performed in the tri-state area and, after 20 years, was rewritten into a one-woman play. Holocaust Syndrome starring Aliza will debut in 2025. Together with a colleague, Aliza also facilitates a monthly Infant Survivor Holocaust Group.

Rabbinic Pastor Dr. Aliza Levy-Erber was born in the Netherlands in 1943 at the height of the Nazi occupation and persecution. Aliza’s father, active with the Dutch resistance, was caught and sent to Westerbork, a concentration camp in Holland. Shortly after her mother received permission to visit him, and they married in Westerbork. She gave birth to Aliza and the family received notice that they were to be taken and deported, and had to separate into pre-arranged hiding places, and no one knew where any of the other members went. The underground took the infant Aliza to be hidden in a bunker dug deep in the Dutch woods, where she remained for two years. The bunker had no heat, no light, no windows, no doors, no sound and no adults. Ten babies were hidden by themselves, alone. An underground fighter came once per day to bring boiled, mashed tulip bulbs as nourishment. After the meal, their mouths were taped shut for fear of sound that could be heard by those travelling above ground.

Dr. Levy-Erber speaks of the surviving family members’ struggle to reunite and survive after the war. She speaks of her own struggles growing up in isolation and starvation with a severely traumatized mother, and her need to find strength and resilience to create a meaningful life, understanding that the law-of-the-land decreed that she be put to death at the moment of her birth.

Aliza is the mother of three accomplished grown children and three proud, strong and amazing grandsons. She is the recipient of the 2024 Forbes Torch of Freedom Award; the 2024 Julian Y. Bernstein Distinguished Service Award; and the 2023 New York City College of Technology of the City of New York Distinguished Achievement Award,

Aliza is grateful to HHREC for giving her a platform and voice to educate about the life-long consequence of evil and hate. We must never forget.

RECENT STORIES ABOUT ALIZA ERBER 

Looking Back, Looking Forward, Lessons Learned by Aliza Erber March 31, 2025

Aliza Erber Accepts The Torch of Freedom Award At The 2024 Forbes 30/50 Summit

New York Times: Photographing the Last of the Holocaust Survivors

Families Belong Together March in Washington DC.

Dr. Aliza Erber has spoken about the impact of family separations at the Families Belong Together March in Washington DC.