Each year, Temple Beth Israel holds a special commemoration on Holocaust Remembrance Day (in Hebrew-Yom HaShoah) with a goal to help educate both the Jewish and the wider communities about the lessons learned from that terrible period in history, and also to honor the millions who fell victim to Nazi terror.

For 2019, TBI will feature a series of readings from the Diary of Anne Frank, shared by a broad range of our wider community’s religious, government and educational leaders, including Claremont Mayor Corey Calaycay, Chief of Police Shelley Vander Veen and CHS Principal  Brett O’Connor, along with Holocaust survivors and members of the second and third generations. The program, to be held Sunday, April 28 at 4 p.m. in the TBI Sanctuary, will be modeled on the 2017 commemoration, which featured excerpts from Night, Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel’s memoir of his time imprisoned by the Nazis.

“Anne Frank’s ‘Diary’ is much more familiar then Wiesel’s memoir,” says Cantor Paul Buch, who along with TBI member and Holocaust scholar Marilyn Lubarsky is planning the program. “But that doesn’t mean we really ‘know’ the book. Hearing her words read aloud allows us to experience them in a deeper way. Her fears, her hopes and her spirit really come alive.”

“As was experienced in the response to the anti-Semitic attack in Pittsburgh this past fall, and in the support extended to local Muslims in light of the recent attacks in New Zealand, there is much we can do to fight in all its forms,” Cantor Buch says, “hate that echoes much of what motivated the Nazis to exterminate Jews. Our hope is that the presence of mayors, police chiefs, ministers, Imams, and elected officials, hopefully including members of our local congressional delegation, will further emphasize the relevance of Anne’s message.”

In addition to those mentioned, TBI’s Rabbi Jonathan Kupetz, pianist Dr. Randy Polevoi and other special guests will also participate. In addition to the memorial candle lighting included in the program, each attendee will receive a candle to light at home, courtesy of the TBI Brotherhood. There is no charge to attend and all are welcome.

“In the current climate of fear and uncertainty in our world,” Rabbi Jonathan Kupetz reminds us, “it is especially important that we remember the lessons of history, and this program is also an opportunity to reach out to our neighbors and friends and to strive to transcend that.”

In keeping with the spirit of the event, there will not be a formal reception following the program, but there will be an opportunity to meet the participants immediately afterwards. No prior reservations are required.

For information, contact the TBI Office at (909) 626-1277 or through email to tbi@tbipomona.org. Temple Beth Israel is located at 3033 N. Towne Ave., Pomona, just south of Foothill Boulevard.