More than 400 people attended the Jewish Federation of Howard County’s annual Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) service May 1 at Beth Shalom Congregation in Columbia. The event was co-sponsored by the Howard County Board of Rabbis.
Keynote speaker for the commemoration was author and investigative journalist Edwin Black, who spoke on “The Chasm of Corporate Complicity and the Holocaust.”
Among those in attendance were Howard County Executive Calvin Ball III, State Sen. Clarence K. Lam (D-12th), Del. Terri L. Hill (D-12th) and Mavis Ellis, chair of the Howard County Public School System, as well as area rabbis and interfaith leaders.
Wilde Lake High School’s choir performed Yiddish songs from the Holocaust era, and the middle and high school winners of the “United Against Hate” essay contest were presented awards.
An hour prior to the program, a traveling exhibit from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., was on display at Beth Shalom, examining how the Nazis used propaganda to win broad voter support in Germany before and during World War II.
The gathering also paid tribute to the victims of the Chabad of Poway synagogue shooting on April 27. One worshiper, a 60-year-old woman, was killed and three people were injured in the shooting near San Diego.
[JmoreImageGallery number=”1″]
With her documentary, local journalist Rona Kobell explores the environmental and social conditions of the Eastern Shore's Deal Island.
Avi Jacobs and Avraham Zhu emerged victorious at JewQ, held recently in Stamford, Connecticut.
The old Hendler's Creamery plant facility at 1100 E. Baltimore Street is scheduled for demolition on April 15.
Rabbi Dr. Eli Yoggev writes about leading Beth Tfiloh's recent mission to Israel and the resilience of the Jewish people during the most challenging of times.