On Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) We Remember With the Theme From Schindler's List

There are very few days in the year when we don't post jokes or funny anecdotes, and today is one of them.  

Today we commemorate Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. It's not a day for Jewish humor, but it can be and should be a day to recognize acts of bravery and compassion of Jews and non-Jews who saved lives in those troubled days of the 20th century.

The essence of heroic resistance was captured in Steven Spielberg's 1993 film Schindler's List and the haunting theme that recurs during the film.

This live performance of the Schindler's List theme was recorded at the Sydney Opera House in Australia in 2017. The performers are the musical duo known as 2Cellos, a Croatian cellist duo, consisting of classically trained cellists Luka Šulić and Stjepan Hauser. Signed to Sony Masterworks since 2011, they have released six albums. They play instrumental arrangements of well-known pop and rock songs, as well as classical and film music.

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

On Holocaust Remembrance Day, a Partisan Song Heard 'Round the World

Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah) started at sunset yesterday and is being observed worldwide today.

"Zog nit keyn mol" (Never Say; Yiddish: זאָג ניט קיין מאָל‎) or "Partizaner lid" (Partisan Song) is a Yiddish song considered one of the chief anthems of the Holocaust survivors and is sung in memorial services around the world.

The lyrics of the song were written in 1943 by Hirsh Glick, a young Jewish inmate of the Vilna Ghetto. The title means "Never Say", and derives from the first line of the song. Glick's lyrics were set to music from a pre-war Soviet song.

In this year's commemoration of Yom Hashoah, the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation shared versions of the song by a group of JPEF Partisans, the Ellenbrook and Carmel Schools of Perth, Australia, Seattle Day School, Washington, and the Herzliya School of Cape Town, South Africa.

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO IS NOT VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

Marking Yom HaShoah - Holocaust Remembrance Day - with the Theme from "Schindler's List"

There are very few days in the year when we don't post jokes or funny anecdotes, and today is one of them.  

Tonight and tomorrow we commemorate Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. It's not a day for Jewish humor, but it can be and should be a day to recognize acts of bravery and compassion of Jews and non-Jews who saved lives in those troubled days of the 20th century.

The essence of heroic resistance was captured in Steven Spielberg's 1993 film Schindler's List and the haunting theme that recurs during the film.

This recording of the Schindler's List theme was made for the 2021 Rochester Jewish Federation Yom Hashoah Holocaust Remembrance ceremony. Due to Covid safety rules, the event was moved fully online this year. The performers are Shannon Nance, Assistant Concert Master in the Rochester Philharmonic and Bob Sneider, Jazz Guitar Professor at the Eastman School of Music.  

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

 

Yom HaShoah Special: Japanese Hashalom Choir Sings "Eli Eli" at March of the Living

Today is Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, the date in the Jewish calendar to mourn the loss of the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust.

Eli, Eli is a poem by Hannah Senesh, the 23-year-old who left Hungary in 1939 to settle on a kibbutz in Israel. She was trained by the British to be a paratrooper to rescue Jews during the Holocaust. Captured and killed by the Nazis, she is still a national heroine in Israel.

Through her brief but noteworthy life, Senesh became a symbol of idealism and self-sacrifice. Her poems, made famous in part because of her unfortunate death, reveal a woman imbued with hope, even in the face of adverse circumstances.

Her diary and literary works were later published, and many of her more popular poems have been set to music. The best known of these is Towards Caesarea, more popularly known today as Eli, Eli with a melody created by David Zahavi and sung by artists including Ofra Haza, Regina Spektor, and Sophie Milman. 
 
In 2018, Eli, Eli was sung by the Hashalom Choir of Japan at the March of the Living Ceremony in Birkenau in recognition of the role played by Japanese Diplomat Chiune Sempo Sugihara in helping 6,000 Jews flee Europe. Sugihara, vice-consul for the Japanese Empire in Kaunas, Lithuania issued transit visas to them so that they could travel through Japanese territory, risking his job and the lives of his family.

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.