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Elie Wiesel

Toward Remembering and Reflecting: The New Castle Holocaust Memorial

December 1, 2019 by Grace Bennett

Photos in this feature by Samantha Milewicz for the Inside Press

How Two Chappaqua Residents Committed to Holocaust Remembrance & Education Made It Happen

“When you listen to a witness, you become a witness.” –Elie Wiesel, founder of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

In 2012, Alexandra Rosenberg (Ali) was lucky enough to spend a night listening to Elie Wiesel speak at Barnard College, Columbia University. She remembered him saying two things that forever stuck with her. The first was, “As long as survivors are here, listen to them…”. And the second was, “Indifference is never an option.” She spent the next six years hearing survivors speak as often as she could and felt if survivors had the courage to share their stories it was her duty to be their audience.

Ali began to focus her efforts on making an impact on the community and the schools. She wanted to find a way to increase Holocaust education for the next generation so that they could feel empowered to prevent this from ever happening again.

All of this led to the creation of a committee for the town and an organization for the students: the town renews its awareness and the students can learn. Together, the New Castle Holocaust & Human Rights Committee and the Horace Greeley High School student organization E.N.O.U.G.H.–Educate Now On Understanding Genocide and Hate will provide annual Holocaust and Human Rights programming to our community and our children.

In addition, Ali recommended the creation of a New Castle Holocaust Memorial which would stand in a visible area of our town where residents of all ages can reflect, remember and learn about the important lessons of the Holocaust.

Gaining a Town’s Support

Rosenberg approached Town Supervisor Robert Greenstein in April who threw his support behind her ideas. Aware of her friend Stacey Saiontz’s commitment to Holocaust education and remembrance, Ali approached Stacey to help her realize her vision for the community. Saiontz holds leadership roles at the Auschwitz Jewish Center, the Museum of Jewish Heritage and the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center. In October, Saiontz was honored with a National Leadership Award by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, www.ushmm.org, where she is a founding member of the Museum’s “Next Generation” board.

Photo courtesy of Alexandra Rosenberg

After introducing their combined experience and ideas, Rosenberg and Saiontz met with the Town Board and the Recreation and Parks Commission, and the idea for the New Castle Holocaust Memorial was approved.

Greenstein said, “This is one of the most meaningful projects that I’ve worked on over the last six years. It’s crucial that we remember the lessons of history and provide future generations with the tools to combat hate and bigotry.” Subsequently, Greenstein and the Town Board established the New Castle Holocaust & Human Rights Committee appointing Rosenberg and Saiontz as Co-Chairs and calling for applicants to apply for the eight Committee member positions and two student liaison positions for E.N.O.U.G.H..

The Daffodil Project

At Community Day on September 14th the students set up a table and introduced the club to the community. The students explained that the mission of E.N.O.U.G.H. is to empower students to stand up to hate and to develop a community of tolerance through education and the understanding of people’s differences.

The students also sold daffodil bulbs which were planted at the Memorial in October. The sale of the daffodil bulbs was part of a larger initiative–The Worldwide Daffodil Project (daffodilproject.net). The Worldwide Daffodil project’s purpose is to commemorate the lives of the children lost during the Holocaust. The goal is to plant 1.5 million daffodils across the world–one daffodil for every child killed during the Holocaust.

A few weeks before the dedication and opening ceremony, E.N.O.U.G.H student members coordinated a Community Planting Event. Students and residents, together with Saiontz and Rosenberg, planted 750 daffodil bulbs which will blossom in the spring when the community holds an annual event commemorating Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The Dedication and Opening Ceremony

Rosenberg explained that, “The Dedication and Opening Ceremony was purposely planned to coincide with Kristallnacht, “The Night of Broken Glass”, which symbolized the final shattering of the Jewish existence in Europe. And so, on November 6 , in cool temps on the lit green field outside our pretty Gazebo, a full array of dignitaries gathered, each to speak out against antisemitism and hate. They included President Bill Clinton, State Assemblyman David Buchwald, State Senator Peter Harckham, County Executive George Latimer and Town Supervisor Elect Ivy Pool. Former Westchester Legislature chairman Mike Kaplowitz, New Castle town board members Lisa Katz and newly elected board members Jeremy Saland and Jason Lichtenthal also attended.

Greenstein, Rosenberg and Saointz each spoke. I was graciously invited to speak as well on behalf of my father, Jacob Breitstein, who was a Survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau. As part of the ceremony a bench was dedicated in my Father’s loving memory. Rosenberg and Saiontz said: “It was a way to honor your father who so many have come to know through your affectionate writing about ‘Poppy’ and for all you do for New Castle and Holocaust awareness.”

Holocaust survivor Peter Somogyi offered the keynote address which conveyed the pain and horror he endured as a victim of Dr. Mengele’s cruel experiments. A candle lighting ceremony was led by survivors and also by students of E.N.O.U.G.H.

At the ceremony the Co-Presidents of E.N.O.U.G.H., Sam Rosenberg and Charlie Gordon, unveiled the memorial plaque. The inscription on the plaque says, “In memory of the six million Jews and millions of other victims who were persecuted and murdered simply because of who they were and what they believed. In honor of those who survived the Holocaust, and those who risked and gave their lives to save them. NEVER AGAIN.”

Matty Wasserman, a Junior at Horace Greeley High School and the winner of the Horace Greeley High School Quote Submission Contest, read the original quote that he wrote, now listed below the words NEVER AGAIN on the Memorial plaque. Wasserman’s quote reads: “Although no one can change the hate that occurred, to not acknowledge it and understand it would be forcing it upon our future.”

As part of the ceremony Rabbis, Cantors and Reverend from local synagogues and churches joined together in prayer and song. The materials for the memorial and bench as well as the landscaping were generously donated by Manzer’s Landscape Design & Development based in Peekskill. The memorial plaque was funded by an anonymous Chappaqua family.

“Our Residents are our Town’s Best Assets”

Right here in our town, these two extraordinary women, each with their own respective and immensely impressive histories of philanthropy, advocacy and Holocaust education, have ‘listened’ to and embodied the very spirit of the witnesses of whom Wiesel speaks. Together these women partnered with a mutual mission to honor survivors, and to ultimately fight antisemitism and all hate by keeping the lessons of the Holocaust alive for present and future generations.

In 2017, HBO created an 18-minute documentary, featuring a conversation between Saiontz’s grandfather and sons, specifically to educate students. Saiontz commented that the creation of the Memorial, the Committee and E.N.O.U.G.H. will now serve as a platform to educate the community and future generations about the lessons of the Holocaust and the importance of taking action. “The Holocaust did not start with the gas chambers and killing. It started with indifference to hate. We need to teach people to stand up to hate wherever it may fester.”

All of Rosenberg’s and Saiontz’s initiatives have been aimed at combatting the significant rise in hate that is permeating our world. Rosenberg said, ”The Holocaust is not only a Jewish story it is a HUMAN story and one that began with HATE. Over these last several years hate has crept back into our world’s, our children’s world’s and specifically our children’s schools. Hate crimes in schools have increased by 25% for the 2nd year in a row. Collectively, it is time that we all say E.N.O.U.G.H. of the reactionary response to hate. It is time to be proactive.”

Filed Under: Cover Stories Tagged With: Alexandra Rosenberg, Bench Dedication, Bill Clinton, Daffodil Project, E.N.O.U.G.H, Elie Wiesel, Greeley students, Holocaust education, Jacob Breitstein, New Castle Holocaust Memorial, Peter Somogyi, reflection, remembrance, Robert Greenstein, Stacey Saiontz, survivors, Town of New Castle

In The Aftermath of the Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting

December 2, 2018 by Stacey Pfeffer

My Perspective on Elisha Wiesel’s Speech at the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center Annual Benefit and a Community-wide Interfaith Candelight Vigil at Temple Beth El

HHREC Keynote Speaker Elisha Wiesel
PHOTO COURTESY OF HHREC

On Thursday evening October 25th, Elisha Wiesel, the only child of the deceased Nobel Prize winning author, humanitarian and Holocaust educator Elie Wiesel was the keynote speaker at the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center’s (HHREC’s) annual benefit. It was a packed house of more than 250 attendees including 16 Holocaust survivors and one liberator. Honorees for the evening included Joseph E. Nyre, Ph.D., the President of Iona College and Mitchell Wm. Ostrove, the CEO of The Ostrove Group, a comprehensive planning organization for businesses, families and high net worth individuals. Additionally Valerie O’Keeffe received a special award recognizing her years of volunteer work as a former chairperson at the HHREC.

Elisha Wiesel currently serves as the Chief Information Officer at Goldman Sachs and occasionally speaks about human rights issues and his upbringing. Wiesel described his father as a “relentless optimist” despite all he experienced as a Holocaust survivor. He questioned the audience and asked what his father would think of this country today and lamented the state of extremism on both the left and alt-right and how these perspectives contribute to anti-Semitism.

Less than 48 hours later on Saturday morning October 27th, 11 Jews at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh, PA, were murdered by an anti-Semitic gunman and several others were injured including first responders during the massacre. It was one of the deadliest attacks on American Jewry in recent decades. To think that this event took place during services when joyous life cycle events such as Bar Mitzvahs and baby namings were taking place in the synagogue should make everyone of us shudder, no matter what faith one practices.

When this magazine’s publisher Grace Bennett asked if I would cover the HHREC event this year, I unequivocally said yes. Bennett is deeply involved with the organization. As many of our readers know, her father is a Holocaust survivor and she is passionate about Holocaust education.

I have been fortunate enough to cover the HHREC and attend their Human Rights Institute event in which local high students are encouraged to become “upstanders” when they see hate or bigotry. From time to time, Grace and I have discussed whether or not our magazine is too saturated with Holocaust news. As a third-generation survivor of the Holocaust (my maternal grandparents were survivors), I am admittedly biased when it comes to Holocaust news as well. I always believe we should cover topics about the Holocaust so that future generations can learn the lessons that history has taught us.

Little did I know when I covered October’s HHREC event that the tragedy in Pittsburgh would unfold in less than two days. I know that anti-Semitism is on the rise (the Anti-Defamation League reported the largest single-year increase–a 57 percent increase) in anti-Semitic incidents last year) and that xenophobia is plaguing this nation but I didn’t realize that these feelings of hate could actually propel someone to commit such a heinous crime on American soil in the year 2018.

Perhaps I was in denial. One of the organizations that the murderer vilified in his hateful rhetoric on www.gab.com was the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), an organization that assists refugees of all faiths and backgrounds. My grandparents and mother came to America in 1950 with the help of HIAS who was resettling Holocaust survivors from the deportation (DP) camps in Germany. To be honest, I had never really given much thought about how crucial this organization was and still is for so many refugees seeking a new life in America.

Interfaith candlelight vigil at Temple Beth El
PHOTO COURTESY OF TEMPLE BETH EL

Wiesel also participated in a Q&A session following his speech at the HHREC event and one audience member asked him what he thought his father would say if he had the opportunity to meet the President today. Wiesel first asked “Do you think my father could have gotten a word in?” resulting in several laughs from the audience. He then continued to tell a story about his father who was hit by a taxi in New York City during the 1950s while on a journalist visa and was forced to wear a full body cast for several months. When he nervously went to the Customs Office to renew his expired visa, the officer said to him “You know you can become a citizen.” Wiesel paused and asked the audience, “Imagine that.” Growing up he said his father would always get misty eyed whenever they landed at JFK and were welcomed by US Customs.

Wiesel described his father as “patriotic and someone who loved this country deeply.” When Elisha was a liberal arts student in college he recalls there was a large debate underway about burning the American flag. His father told him, “If you knew what the flag meant to me when we saw it when we were liberated by the US army, you would never burn it.” Wiesel said he believes that his father would want to talk to President Trump about “how we treat people coming to our shores because it is something he felt so personally as a beneficiary. My father could never forgive FDR for closing the doors to Jews in the 1930s and he would very much take up this issue with our President if he met him today.”

Within five days of hearing Wiesel speak, I found myself in the crowded pews at Temple Beth El in Chappaqua with my ten-year-old son for an interfaith candlelight vigil for the victims of the Tree of Life shooting. In attendance were: Reverend Martha Jacobs, First Congregational Church of Chappaqua; Reverend Tenku Ruff, Soto Zen Buddhist Association; Friar Hugh Burns, Holy Innocents Catholic Church; Reverend Merle McJunkin, Antioch Baptist Church; Reverend Alan Dennis, Saint Mary the Virgin Episcopal Church; Kristina Szibinga, Chappaqua Friends Society; Dilkash Ashraf, Upper Westchester Muslim Society; and Robert Greenstein, Town Supervisor of New Castle. The service led by Temple Beth El’s Rabbi Jonathan Jaffe included communal singing led by Cantor Elizabeth Sternlieb and a speech from Rabbi Maura Linzer, who has strong ties to the Squirrel Hill tightknit Jewish community having grown up in Pittsburgh not that far from a Tree of Life synagogue.

Admittedly I was a bit wary of attending the service with my ten-year-old son but I am not one to shy away from tough topics with my kids especially as they relate to anti-Semitism and/or the Holocaust. My five-year old daughter knows who Hitler is and that he hated Jews. I don’t go into vivid details yet but I use it as a discussion point with my kids to talk about bigotry. I see the world through a Jewish lens as a third-generation survivor so I see it as my obligation to start telling my children about their family’s legacy in basic terms they can understand.

Wiesel concluded his HHREC speech with a question he posed to the audience. “My father lived with despair and managed to see the light. What of us who live in the light like few generations ever have in this country in this time of plenty? Can we squint in the light and can we see the darkness among us? Can we see the saddest among us and once we see that darkness, can we look past it and see the good in everyone’s soul to champion them in their time of need?”

I’d like to say that we are living in the light, as Wiesel suggests. My grandmother’s favorite saying was “this too shall pass” whenever I encountered a difficult circumstance. Now I’m not so sure.

Filed Under: Armonk Cover Stories Tagged With: community, Elie Wiesel, Elisha Wisel, gun violence, HHREC Annual Benefit, Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center, Holocaust education, Interfaith Service, service, Tree of Life Synagogue

Elisha Wiesel to Deliver Keynote Address at the 2018 Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center Benefit

August 22, 2018 by Inside Press

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center proudly honors Joseph E. Nyre, Ph.D., President of Iona College and Mitchell Wm. Ostrove, Founder and CEO of The Ostrove Group at their annual dinner.  Elisha Wiesel, son of Holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel, will be the keynote speaker. 

Joseph E. Nyre, Ph.D. serves as the eighth president of Iona College, a vital economic, educational, religious, and cultural institution in New Rochelle.  Pres. Nyre is a U.S. Naval Veteran and a first-generation college graduate who obtained three advanced degrees and completed pre and postdoctoral studies at the University of Missouri, University of Kansas, and Harvard Medical School.  He has been nationally recognized for this program of research, for attaining a stunning $44 million in academic and service grants, and for authoring vital state and national legislation.  Under his leadership over the past seven years, Iona College has realized remarkable successes, including record levels of scholarships, launching new academic programs, centers and institutes, tripling the College endowment to $150 million, and launching Iona Forever, the largest campaign in Iona’s history.

Mitchell Wm. Ostrove is a 50 year member of the Million Dollar Round Table and has served as its Foundation President from 2002-2003.  Long active in this community, Mitch served as Chairman of the Men’s Division of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, a Trustee of Temple Israel of New Rochelle, Commissioner of the New Rochelle Youth Bureau, director of the New Rochelle Police Foundation, and past Co-chair of the Westchester Business & Professional Division of UJA-Federation.  He also serves on the boards of Hillel’s of Westchester, the Westchester Jewish Council, and the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center.  He has received Humanitarian Awards from Einstein College of Medicine, the Ameritas prestigious Lester Rosen Award, the Spencer McCarty Award, and the UJA-Federation Insurance Man of the Year Award, among others.

Elisha Wiesel is the Chief Information Officer at Goldman Sachs.  Mr. Wiesel has been active in local non-profits serving at-risk youth in New York City since 2002 when he joined the board of Groundwork, and continued on to Good Shepherd Services in 2010.  He stepped down from the board in 2016 after having rebooted the Midnight Madness all-night urban puzzle-solving experience into a multi-million dollar fundraising platform for local communities and a signature creative experience for the broader financial community.  Since Elie Wiesel’s passing in 2016, Elisha speaks at events and for causes where he feels he can be helpful in remembering his father’s messages and values.

This annual dinner will take place on Thursday, October 25 at 6:30 p.m, at the Mamaroneck Beach & Yacht Club, 555 South Barry Avenue, Mamaroneck, NY  10543.

For more information, please contact Millie Jasper (914)696-0738 or benefit@hhrecny.org

Tickets:

https://hhrecny.z2systems.com/np/clients/hhrecny/event.jsp?event=95

 

 

Filed Under: Inside Westchester, New Castle News Tagged With: Annual Benefit, Elie Wiesel, Elisha Wiesel, Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center, Joseph E. Nyre, Mitchell Wm. Ostrove

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