Tel Aviv Yom HaShoah Community Ceremony & in-English Survivor Testimony
Register here.
Location: Ichud Olam, 86 Ben Yehuda Street, Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv Comes Together Against Forgetting
About this event
Adopt-A-Safta, Is Honored to Present:
Tel Aviv Community Yom HaShoah Memorial Ceremony
Candle Lighting & in-English Holocaust Survivor Testimony
“To forget would be not only dangerous but offensive; to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.” – Elie Wiesel
What: Join us as one unified community as we hear live from Holocaust Survivor Gidon Lev about his incredible story. Let’s also get inspired together by a special Yom HaShoah candle lighting in memory of our six million lost and say Kaddish.
RSVP: Please register above to attend
Date: Wednesday, April 27th, 2022, 7:30pm-9pm
Venue: 86 Ben Yehuda, Ichud Olam, Tel Aviv
Who: Tel Avivis of all ages
Cost: Free, Attendees must register above to attend
About Our Speaker: Gidon Lev
Gidon, (formerly Peter Wolfgang Löw) was born in Carlsbad, Czechoslovakia in 1935. In 1938, Hitler took over the Sudetenland as part of UK Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement plan, as he tried to avoid war. In 1941, Gidon and his mother and father were taken to the Theresienstadt concentration camp, which was located about 50 kilometers north of Prague.
Gidon was in the concentration camp from the ages of six to ten (1941 to 1945). His mother survived but his father was sent to Auschwitz, where he died in a death march as the camp was evacuated before the coming Allies. When Gidon was liberated, he was among the 92 surviving children of an approximated 15,000 children who were in or transported through Terezin. During his time in the camp, Gidon was severely malnourished and witnessed public executions, beatings and torture. He saw his father only twice, being marched by, six abreast, one of the slaves used by the Nazis to mine mica. Gidon’s grandparents were transported to Terezin and then variously, to Auschwitz and the Warsaw Ghetto, where they perished.
Gidon survived and wound up in Toronto, Canada, where he became very involved with the Zionist youth organization HaShomer HaTzair and in 1959, Gidon came to Israel to fulfill his dream. A living part of Israeli history, Gidon served in the IDF, guarding Mt. Scopus in 1962 and fighting in a combat unit in the Six Day War as well as the War of Attrition.
Gidon recently published a book with Julie Gray called, “The True Adventures of Gidon Lev”, and is very active on social media with 300k followers. @thetrueadventures on Tiktok, Instagram & a great Podcast.
About Our Venue: Ichud Olam
A big thank you to Ichud Olam which is Tel Aviv’s main center for Jewish life, and a dynamic community of young professionals from diverse geographical and cultural backgrounds, and from all across the religious spectrum, who have moved to Tel Aviv to live in the heart of the modern Jewish State. From humble beginnings in 2000, Ichud Olam has created a warm and welcoming environment hosting a wide array of religious, cultural and social events. IchudOlam.org
Our Event Partners: World Zionist Organization, Nefesh b’Nefesh, AACI, Israel Forever Foundation, Tribe Tel Aviv, TLV Internationals, Our Six Milion, StandWithUs & more…
The World Zionist Organization Department for Israel and Holocaust commemoration worldwide was founded to enhance Jewish / Zionist identity and to preserve the memory of the Holocaust and its lessons for humanity.
About the Organization: Adopt-A-Safta:
Adopt-A-Safta is a nonprofit initiative that honors Holocaust memory & pairs young adults with lonely elderly, having a special focus on Survivors of the Shoah. Working off of the Big Brother/Big Sister model, our young volunteers “adopt” a grandmother or grandfather in Israel (and soon globally) that is in need of love and attention. Our goal is to train as many volunteers as possible and to connect these two communities; young adults seeking to make meaningful contributions, and the Survivors in need of warmth and connection, while we still are blessed with the presence of this holy generation. www.AdoptASafta.com
The Problem: 50,000+ lonely Holocaust Survivors in Israel.
Even one hungry or lonely Holocaust Survivor on Passover eve is a failure for the State of Israel. The next generation will never forgive us if we fail to care for the older generation with the respect it deserves.
At Adopt-A-Safta we do not believe that any citizen should ever wait for the government to act on social issues of this historical importance. Survivors of the Shoah are an invaluable treasure and they deserve for us to make any effort possible to alleviate their suffering.
We see no need to wait another day – too much is lost waiting for others to act, waiting for permission, waiting for money. We know that we can make a major dent in the problem of comforting lonely Shoah Survivors now; not to do so as a responsibility, but as a noble honor.
All volunteers will be responsible for visiting their “adopted” grandmother or grandfather every week, with regular reports on their well-being.
Those 50,000 that were lonely last year will not be alone anymore. Please join us in Adopt-A-Safta. With COVID continuing to isolate the elderly in general, you can donate to and volunteer with our good works on their behalf here: https://www.AdoptASafta.com
Adopt-A-Safta has been founded in blessed memory of Kathe Friedman (Kalya bat Feigel).
Web: www.AdoptASafta.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AdoptASafta
E-mail: Info@AdoptASafta.com
Donate: https://www.AdoptASafta.com/donate
Adopt-A-Safta is generously supported by the Am Yisrael Foundation // www.AmYisrael.com