Honoring Memories and Connections on Yom HaZikaron
In 1943, my great-grandmother escaped the Warsaw Ghetto to give birth to my grandfather. She asked one of her Christian friends to hide him, which is how he survived when she was eventually taken to the gas chambers and murdered.
Until my grandfather was nine years old, he had no idea he was Jewish. He grew up in a Christian community in Poland, and had to practice Christianity — that’s what kept him safe until the Jewish Agency for Israel rescued him and brought him to Israel as part of the Youth Aliyah.
Despite the turmoil and pain of my grandfather’s childhood, he raised his children to be proud Jews and proud Israelis. So when I had the opportunity to give back to the Jewish Agency for Israel, the organization that rescued him, it felt like everything came full circle. As a Jewish Agency Israel Fellow, I’m paying that rescue forward: creating connections with students, helping them feel proud to be Jewish, and to be fully comfortable with who they are — never feeling like they have to apologize for or hide their Jewish identities.
In thinking about planning our program for Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day, I drew on that inspiration, along with an important lesson I learned while being on campus after October 7, 2023. When I helped students connect with the humanity of the people who were murdered and taken hostage in the attacks that occurred that day, it helped them understand the scope and impact of the tragedy. For example, on the anniversary of 9/11, my students and I took chocolate chip cookies that we baked in memory of slain hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin (who loved chocolate chip cookies) to the local police station to thank them for their service and for protecting our Jewish community. That act of service helped my students and me remember Hersh as a whole person and it gave the students the opportunity to connect with broader communities on campus.
So this year for Yom HaZikaron, rather than trying to tell every story, we will honor my cousin, Ron Afrimi, who died fighting in Gaza. We ordered a bench for the backyard of the Hillel building, dedicated to Ron and all of the beautiful souls who have been lost since October 7. A few Jewish students came to paint kalaniot, anemones, Ron’s favorite flower, on the bench. We will say kaddish in Ron’s memory, and prayers to keep the soldiers safe and for the safe return of the hostages.
As my students helped with the dedication, the painting, and preparing the prayers, they listened to Ron’s story and it became more real to them. It helped connect them to the sacrifice that so many people have made to keep the Jewish homeland of Israel free.
The Jewish community has always faced difficult times. But we have always stayed together, and supported one another, through good times and bad. From my grandfather, arriving in a new country as a refugee, to my students living proudly as Jews in the face of hate on campus — we are all connected. May the memories of every soldier who has died in service of the State of Israel and every victim of terror murdered because they were Jewish remind us of that connection and inspire us to stay strong and tell their stories.