Annual Westchester Countywide Yom Hashoah

Holocaust Commemoration

Keeping the Memory Alive: Generation to Generation

The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center (HHREC) and Westchester Jewish Council (WJC) present the Annual Westchester Countywide Yom Hashoah Holocaust Commemoration each year in April at the beautiful Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center Garden of Remembrance at 148 Martine Avenue, White Plains. This event is held to commemorate the approximately six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust by Nazi Germany and its collaborators.

In 2024, the Annual Countywide Yom Hashoah Commemoration Keeping the Memory Alive was held on Tuesday, April 18th. A crowd estimated at close to 300 people attended the event that featured a keynote presentation by Holocaust Survivor Annie Kleinhaus.

The program began with the Opening of the Gates by Hillels of Westchester students, and a Sounding of the Shofar by Mitchell Ostrove, Board member, HHREC and WJC. Following the opening there was a Procession of Rescued Torahs from synagogues across Westchester and neighboring counties. Locations of origin were read by Cantor Robin Joseph, President of Kol Hazzanim, Westchester Community of Cantors and Cantor at Temple Beth Shalom of Hastings. A welcome message was given by Michael Gyory, Chairman HHREC, followed by an Invocation by Rev. Doris Dalton, Chair of the Westchester County Human Rights Commission, and remarks by Westchester County Executive George Latimer and U.S. Congressman Michael Lawler, WJC President William Schrag, and Rabbi Lester Bronstein from Bet Am Shalom Synagogue. The program concluded with a singing performance in English, German and Hebrew by the Children’s Choir of German International School New York.

News12 Coverage 

Photo credits: Raya Cotrell

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