By Terry L. Shultz
Congregation Or Atid (COA) was proud to host the 4th annual community wide Yom HaShoah Heroism and Commemoration Day event honoring local Holocaust survivor Tommy Baer on Sunday, April 12.
Tommy Baer is a dynamic keynote speaker. He shared his inspiring family story of life in Berlin, survival and his amazing journey that continues today as it connects him to many well-known American and world leaders’ he has met with. Years later he would experience a surprising “bashert” moment which brought his past to future destiny with a chance meeting a random stranger on a visit to Berlin.
Rabbi Grinsteiner welcomed everyone to the event and led Motzi with a beautiful challah from Ellen Bernstein.
After a moment of silence with the blare of the siren as sounded in Israel, Dr. Sam Richardson from Federation, emcee of the morning, introduced amazing enlightening special guest speakers, including Rabbi Yossel Kranz of Chabad, who introduced the Yom HaShoah event and highlighted the importance of memory of the past and how active memory is linked to action.
Other guests followed. Samuel Asher, Director of the Virginia Holocaust Museum spoke about the VHM and the importance of community education.
Rabbi Paul of RTA spoke about the importance of education and accompanied his RTA students singing Hatikvah near the close of the morning program.
; Rabbi Lessoff, Director of Jewish Life at VCU Chabad with his wife Daniela at his side, chanted the El Molei ; JVCU students (Yonatan Kaplan, Peyton Tucei, Talia Muhlmeister, Ilana Gulkarov, Ethan Friedman, Leah Krukee, Nellie Shendarovich, Dan Elkes, Rylee Abell) assisted in the candle lighting memorial service; Sheri Rodman, Executive Director of Hillel at VCU led the yellow candle blessing and Hillel student president, Cal Newmann also accompanied the survivors;
Rabbi Salston of Temple Beth-El led the Holocaust Kaddish as a responsive prayer and Or Atid Rabbi Grinsteiner recited the poem “Ashrei Hagafrur” (Blessed is the Match) by Hannah Senesh in Hebrew and English.
The morning included Eli Wiesel’s “Never Shall I Forget” a poem from Night read by BBYO member Zach Lowenstein.
Lastly, we want to thank and recognize Theo and Sebastian Mendez who recited from the song, “Peace Will Come” by Tom Paxton. That song theme with lyrics, “let it begin with me” is relevant for the event and tied together the 2026 Yom HaShoah national theme of “bridging the generations.”
In his remarks, Tommy Baer emphasized that fighting antisemitism and hate begins at a young age. Ben Ipson (grandson to Jay and Elly Ipson) spoke at the end of the program and invited all ages to learn the history of our people and lessons of the Holocaust so it is not forgotten. He encouraged all to attend the Emek Shalom annual Kristallnacht event in November.
Co-chairs, Alex Mendez-Zfass and Terry Schultz expressed thanks to the Survivors, refugees and liberators of the Shoah for attending and participating in the candle lighting memorial ceremony including: Tommy Baer with his wife Betty, Halina Zimm, Rachel Loria in honor of her parents who were unable to attend today’s event, Ben Ipson representing his family, Roma Brodecki w/fiancé Rocky, Rabbi Kranz, Rabbi Paul, Sam Asher, the Alton Family, Shana
Spiegel, Brian Meyer with his wife Sharla, Ira Korshin with her children, and Sam Richardson. We lit a 13th candle for the six million who could not be with us and whom we are remembering.
Alex and Terry along with Rabbi Grinsteiner envisioned a community Yom HaShoah event to recognize local Holocaust survivors, refugees and liberators and their families. All ages were represented at the event and our youth were encouraged to participate because it is incumbent upon us to educate our future generations about the Shoah to combat antisemitism and hate and to create Jewish identity.
We congratulate our student essay contest winners, Noah Alton and Noah Marcus who were present during the event. Their remarkable essays were shared on the tables. A delicious breakfast was served. We are thankful to AV support, Michael Marcus, our kitchen crew led by Ellen Pinsky, the dedicated setup and clean up volunteers, security with Barry Green and advisor, Russell Finer.
In conclusion, Alex and Terry hope everyone who joined us found the morning event to be meaningful. The primary intent of the program was to develop a “living bridge” to help make connections from the past relevant to all ages, but particularly the younger generations to ensure that previous generations guide our future ones. Through continued programming of direct witness histories of the Holocaust and commemoration coupled with positive memory habits in our daily lives we can focus on our legacy.
As Rabbi Kranz stated in his remarks, “Jewish memory does not end in the past. It demands something of us now. To build. To show up. To speak. To give. To live as Jews- proudly, publicly, without apology.” This consistent theme was highlighted by all presenters with a key point to build continuity. Alex and Terry are grateful for the overwhelming community support for this year’s event and we look forward to being with you next year.