Let Us Never Forget Musical Performance Adds Vivid Dimension event also made her feel linked with the Jewish community. Milner added that the performance venue resonated with her as well because Ann Arbor the JCC is also currently home to a olk singer Joe Aronson Holocaust-related art exhibit by Ann brought songs, stories and Arbor artist and survivor Miriam Brysk. poems to the Jewish "I thought it was good and it fits so Community Center of well with the exhibit, which to me is very Washtenaw County Saturday night as artistically compelling, but also a very part of an Ann Arbor Reconstructionist moving representation of the horror of Havurah Yom HaShoah Havdalah service. the Holocaust," she said. The fresh voice in Aronson's work was part of what struck Hanny Leitson of Ann Arbor, who was sent to England on a Kindertransport when she was 13. "I thought he had an inter- esting project with an interest- ing point of view," she said. "Through his songs, poetry and storytelling, he carried us through this time; and we had a chance to remember some of the very heroic people from those years — Christians and Jews." Leitson said it is important Folk singer Joe Aronson performs songs, poems and to remember what happened, stories about the Holocaust during a program in even though today's comfort- Ann Arbor. able lives make it seem more removed. "It's part of my his- tory, and it's only by the grace of God Some audience members sang along that I wasn't put into a concentration because they knew the Yiddish and camp," she said. English words to many of the songs he was singing, songs they remembered Steve Merritt of Ann Arbor likes the from their youth. more experiential window into Judaism Aronson, who has been performing for that commemorates the Holocaust with programming that goes beyond religious more than 50 years, shared a collection services. He said the creative approach of materials written by victims and sur- reflected in Saturday night's program vivors about the Holocaust and reflec- "honors what our movement is about, tions on the post-war years, weaving together a presentation that audience but it also allows us to appeal to a larger cross section of Jews. members said was unique and inspiring. "So often the Holocaust is presented in For Ann Arbor resident Emily Milner, a very text-based way — there's practical- the program made the remembrance more accessible and strengthened her ly an entire industry of Holocaust feelings of connection to Israel. books," Merritt said. "I think by not being a lecture but a performance, "I feel some division, so this program Aronson was able to bring in emotions makes me feel aligned — about why and a vividness you don't necessarily get there is an Israel and why there needs to from reading a book." fl be an Israel," she said, adding that the KAREN SCHWARTZ Special to the Jewish News F rA x 4/23 2004 78 Commemoration Finds A New Home one in the community, especially with 600 people in the community on their way to Israel right now" on Federation's Michigan Miracle Mission 4. Rabbi Charles Rosenzveig, HMC founder and executive director, told the crowd, "Our mission is not to fight hate with hate, evil with evil. We will fight evil with love and righteousness. That is our mission — to make the righteous acts of the few the stanclnrd of the many. Saul Waldman, who chaired the event with Alan Zekelman, said, "This [Holocaust Memorial Center] was built to act as a teaching tool for youngsters going to school to learn of our history, what life was like before the Holocaust and how the righteous were there to help people." E HARRY MRS BAUM StaffWriter T he program remains the same: An honor guard from Selfridge Air National Guard Base opened the ceremony, followed by a candlelighting in memory of the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust and Israel's victims of terror- ism. Then came prayers and speeches and music. But what drew a crowd of nearly 600 people to the 90-minute Holocaust Memorial Academy during a beautiful Sunday afternoon on April 22 was the new Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills. "It looks great, and it has a lot more of the history rather than just the Holocaust," said Shayna Levine, 22, of Royal Oak "I think it's amazing that this many people can come out on a Sunday for something that affects every- For more photographs from this story, see wvvwdetroitjevvishnews.com Clockwise from top right: Survivor Harry Praw of Oak Park. A mezzuzah ceremony takes place before the commemoration. Josh Mendelson, 15, of Novi listens to the ceremony. Madge Pollack (foreground) ofWest Bloomfield and Golda Indig of Southfield light yahrzeit candles after the ceremony. .