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.

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 Remembrance: Itzhak Perlman Plays John Williams' Theme from Schindler's List

This evening marks the start of Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah) around the world.

As Edward Serotta wrote in Haaretz this week,

The date is commemorated in a great variety of ways. There are the events and ceremonies – a candle lighting in a synagogue here, a school presentation there; all traffic comes to a stop in Israel at 10 A.M. Speeches are delivered. 

Then there are programs like March of the Living, which sends thousands of Jewish teenagers to walk through concentration camps in what had been German-occupied Poland (they often leave out the ‘German-occupied’ part) with the goal of having them witness the horrible past – they stand in Birkenau on Holocaust Remembrance Day – then fly to Israel to witness the bright Jewish future.

Today we're taking a break from humor to honor the spirit of the day by sharing a video clip that we found of Itzhak Perlman (2003 Kennedy Center Honors honoree) playing a beautiful rendition of the theme from Schindler's List for John Williams, a Kennedy Center Honors recipient the following year.

Williams was picked by director Steven Spielberg to write the music and Perlman played the violin in the film.

(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.)