by Lauren Krupar, Hudson Hub-Times Associate Editor
Each candle stood for a million people, and there were six candles flickering on the altar of St. Mary Church during the annual Hudson community Holocaust Remembrance Service May 6.
"Those little candles represented so much," said Sister Barbara Einloth of St. Mary. "It was a very simple ritual, but each of those candles represented so many lives lost."
In an almost decade-old tradition, the Hudson Ministerial Association commemorated Yom HaShoah -- Holocaust Remembrance Day -- and remembered the more than 6 million Jews who died in the Holocaust.
The six candles lit represented a population roughly the size of present-day Washington, D.C. By adding the 5 million non-Jews killed during the Holocaust, the number of people who died equaled the combined population of Chicago and New York City.
So many people who never had a chance to live. In the words of poet Yoram Eckstein, a Kent State University professor and Holocaust survivor who spoke at the commemoration, so many people whose lives shadow and haunt those who survived.
"There are less and less of us," Eckstein said, "who remember those times and have the heavy burden of remembering forever."
Eckstein was 2 years old when he and his family fled Poland, heading east to escape the Nazi regime. They were sent to a Siberian labor camp. When they were released, they were left to fend for themselves in a forested wilderness that was miles downstream of the nearest rail line.
When Eckstein and his family made their way back to Poland, they found few surviving family members. He later immigrated to Israel and the United States.
At the urging of his children and grandchildren, Eckstein began writing his memoirs. He read excerpts from "Shards of [personal] History and Other Poems" at the Holocaust Remembrance Service.
I was one of approximately 100 people attending the interfaith service. Students, parents, teachers and community members filled the pews, silent witnesses to the past as the Mourner's Kaddish, a Jewish prayer, echoed in the church.
"It's important for the community to never forget the Holocaust, and find a way, in a diverse and multi-cultural environment, to remember and learn the lessons we need to," said Rabbi Susan Stone of Temple Beth Shalom.
Lessons on the importance of remembering the Holocaust victims, survivors and those who helped them, and lessons on how a community can come together and learn from all its members.
"We [members of different faiths] need to worship together," Stone said. "We're the only synagogue in the area, and so we have a different kind of opportunity. We're very much a part of the community."
E-mail: lkrupar@recordpub.com
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