In his first speech since presenting his credentials to Israeli President Isaac Herzog earlier this week, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee pledged his commitment to Israel and the Jewish people on Thursday at a joint Holocaust commemoration ceremony of the B’nai B’rith World Center and Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael–Jewish National Fund held at the B’nai B’rith Martyrs’ Forest “Scroll of Fire” Plaza outside Jerusalem, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judith Sudilovsky from the event. “I come today not as a Jew, but as one who believes in ‘The Book,’ and I believe that those who bless Israel will be blessed, and those who curse Israel will be cursed. I come to bring blessing, and I stand not behind you, but with you — because you are everything we hope the world will be,” Huckabee said.

Never lose hope: The annual ceremony is dedicated to commemorating Jews who risked their lives to save fellow Jews during the Holocaust. At the event, Luis Har, who was taken captive by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and rescued in a military operation by Israeli security forces after 129 days, highlighted the need for hope and for Jewish self-reliance. “How much has our people suffered throughout the generations? And yet, we are here. There is wisdom in the fact that when we are truly together, we are capable of anything — surviving, doing everything, despite it all,” Har, 72, said. “We never lost hope, and we always knew that the Jewish people don’t leave anyone behind. What kept us going in captivity was our faith, the knowledge that we would come out. The very fact that I am here is proof of that. We will continue to fight… to save all 59 who are still there. Every day that passes puts their lives more at risk. I ask everyone to be a united and special people — and to save them all.”

Read the full report here.

As Israel and Jews around the world mark Yom HaShoah, many of the more than 220,000 Holocaust survivors are living in financial distress, with an estimated 40% of those worldwide and more than a quarter of those in Israel living below the poverty line, subsisting on meager pensions, occasional survivor benefits and welfare support. For those living in Israel, barring outside intervention, these conditions are not expected to improve significantly as the government’s recently passed budget does not allocate additional funds to Holocaust survivors or elderly Israelis in general, and is expected to cause welfare benefits to stagnate or diminish in the coming years, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judith Sudilosky. “Most Holocaust survivors in Israel are lonely people who are in a nursing home situation. The State of Israel must ensure that Holocaust survivors are able to live with dignity in Israel and must continue to work to improve the situation of Holocaust survivors,” said Nir Kaidar, CEO of the Taub Center social policy think tank.

A call to action: Greg Schneider, executive vice president of the Claims Conference, told eJP that of the more than 200,000 survivors alive right now, 40% are living in poverty, constituting roughly 90,000 Holocaust survivors worldwide. Many of these are Holocaust survivors from the former Soviet Union, having both endured the Holocaust and then lived under the communist regime. This prevented them from accumulating significant wealth throughout the rest of their lives, leaving them with few savings to rely on as they grow older. “Understanding these data is critical – where Holocaust survivors live, their individual testimonies of survival, poverty rates – this allows us to clearly map the amount of funding and types of benefits that are most needed. Our population projection indicates that 50% of Holocaust survivors alive today will have passed away within the next six years,” he said. “This means our most important work to provide dignity and a measure of justice to our final heroes from the Holocaust must be done in these coming few years. This is a call to action for all of us who care about Shoah survivors and preserving the memory of what they endured.”

Read the full report here.

Holocaust survivor Avigdor Neuman told his story in front of the Knesset’s Chagall tapestries, in Jerusalem. In Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, thousands gathered to hear survivor Aliza Landau recount her experiences, along with the parents of hostages speaking about their sons’ continued captivity in Gaza. Dozens of teenage volunteer EMTs gathered at a Magen David Adom ambulance station in northern Israel to hear Holocaust survivor David Peleg speak. Women gathered in a Pilates studio in central Israel to hear a fellow member share her mother’s story of survival. And in hundreds of living rooms around Israel on Wednesday evening, Holocaust survivors or their children told countless stories to small groups. One of those locations, in the central Israel city of Hod Hasharon, is the home of Adi Altschuler, the founder of Zikaron BaSalon – “memory in the living room.” In between preparations to host 40 people for her own Yom HaShoah event, Altschuler spoke to Lahav Harkov from eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider about how her initiative has become a ubiquitous way for Israelis to mark Yom Hashoah. 

The spark: The idea for Zikaron BaSalon brewed slowly, beginning in 2010, when Altschuler, 38, forgot about Yom HaShoah altogether: She heard sad music on the radio one day, and then talked to her mother on the phone and asked if something tragic had happened – because in Israel, when there is a terror attack, the music stations only play sad songs. Her mother reminded her that Yom HaShoah was beginning in a few hours and asked her how she planned to commemorate it. “I said, I don’t know, maybe I’ll watch ‘Schindler’s List,’” Altschuler said. “My mother was angry with me, so I went with her to a ceremony in Tel Aviv. I was 24 years old and I was the only one there who was under 60. That was when it occurred to me that I am part of the last generation who will meet Holocaust survivors … I said to myself, what will Yom HaShoah look like in 30 years? … What will happen when there aren’t survivors anymore?” she asked.

Read the full interview here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.

“Holocaust education stands at a critical juncture. As the number of survivors dwindles, we must find new ways to preserve their stories and share them in a way that resonates with young people,” writes Jennifer Wasserstrom Doty, a social studies teacher at Mayfield High School in upstate New York, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. 

An innovative model: “It was at a social studies conference that I first encountered Dave [Reckess], the executive director of 3GNY, an educational organization that engages grandchildren of Holocaust survivors to share their family stories in classrooms and community settings. Over coffee, I posed the question that had been haunting me: Would talking to the grandchildren of survivors have the same impact as hearing from the survivors themselves? The conversation sparked an idea. What if we could create a deeper, more interactive experience than the typical classroom presentation? What if students could have genuine conversations with these ‘3Gs’ (third-generation survivors) about not just what their grandparents experienced, but how that legacy shaped their own identities?… Elie Wiesel famously said: ‘Listening to a witness makes you a witness.’ What this project showed me is that when students have agency in that listening — when they can ask their own questions, make their own connections and reflect on their own terms — the impact is profoundly deeper.”

Read the full piece here.

“Each spring, Israel marks the Yoms, a trio of national commemorations that arrive in quick succession: Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), Yom HaZikaron (Memorial Day) and Yom HaAtzmaut (Independence Day). Falling within a single week, these days are as connected in time as they are in the story of Israel itself,” writes Ariela Gordon-Shaag, president of Jerusalem Multidisciplinary College, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. 

Yom HaShoah in a post-Oct. 7 world: “From the ashes of the Holocaust, the Jewish people rebuilt their lives, established a thriving state and transformed painful memory into a driving force for creativity, innovation, and achievement across all areas of life. Oct. 7 has not changed that. A recent study of Holocaust survivors by Ruth Maytles, a professor at Jerusalem Multidisciplinary College… found that Holocaust survivors with higher rates of PTSD have experienced increased depression and anxiety over the last 18 months. However, Maytles’ study also found there were no group differences in hope, activity engagement and community resilience. This should serve as an inspiration to all of us, wherever we stand with our grief… As we move through this season of remembrance, I invite you to reflect on how each of us can contribute — through service, care or teaching — to the rebuilding still ahead.”

Read the full piece here.

“In the days since Pope Francis’ passing, he has been rightly hailed as both a reformer and a man of humility and compassion, someone who role-modeled for leaders of all religious traditions a spirit of love for and solidarity with the poor and powerless. Yet another important aspect of Francis’ legacy has received little attention,” writes Rabbi Marc Schneier, president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding and of The Hampton Synagogue in Westhampton Beach, N.Y., in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. 

Treating each other as equals: “I was inspired by Pope Francis’ full-throated avowal that no faith has the monopoly on the truth. He never spoke down to his interfaith partners, but rather treated each one of us and our faith traditions as equal to his own… Pope Francis created a theological and moral framework for interfaith engagement, which he termed a ‘culture of encounter.’ Through his gestures, writings and relationships, he has helped shift the focus from mere tolerance to active fraternity. This approach is not only a road map for Christianity’s relationship with other faiths but also provides a model that Muslims and Jews can emulate in building bridges with each other.”

Read the full piece here.