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Holocaust Rescue

LINDA DRESNER

Rabbis urge Yad Vashem to recognize
1943 rabbinic march on White House.

New York

M

ore than 400 rabbis,
including senior leaders
of all denominations, have
signed a petition urging Yad Vashem,
Israel's central Holocaust museum, to
add materials recognizing the 1943
rabbis' march to the White House and
other Holocaust protests organized
by the Bergson Group.
Local signers include: Rabbi Jason
Miller of Oakland
County-based
Tamarack Camps
and Congregation
T'chiyah, Oak Park;
Rabbis Joshua
Bennett, Jennifer
Kaluzny and
Marla Hornsten
Rabbi Miller
of Temple Israel,
West Bloomfield;
Rabbi Norman
Roman of Temple
Kol Ami, West
Bloomfield; Rabbi
David Nelson,
Congregation
Beth Shalom,
Oak Park; Rabbi
Amy
Bigman,
Rabbi Bennett
Congregation
Shaarey Zedek, East
Lansing.
Rabbi Miller studied the Bergson
Group as a student in Professor
Kenneth Waltzer's Holocaust
course at James Madison College at
Michigan State University.
"We discussed the significant role
played by American rabbis in not
only turning the attention of the
American public to the atrocities of
the Nazi regime, but also putting the
necessary pressure on the Roosevelt
administration to try to rescue
Europe's Jews," Miller said. "Yad
Vashem should include the actions
of these American rabbis in their
memorial."
He added, "These Jewish lead-
ers rallied, protested and met with
senior U.S. politicians with the noble
mission of ending the silence of our
ancestors' persecution at the hands of
the Nazis."

The actions these rabbis took
during the Holocaust helped inspire
him to become a rabbi, Miller said.
"It showed me that the purpose of
rabbinic leadership is not merely to
teach and preach, but also to stand
up for a cause and to fight for justice."
Rabbi Bennett believes it is impor-
tant to recognize the actions of Jews
who responded to the Holocaust,
especially today when activism
seems to be on the wane. "I hope to
motivate young people to care, to
act and to make change happen:' he
said. "By remembering the actions
of past Jewish American leaders, we
are inspired to emulate them in the
present!'
The petition was delivered to
Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau of Yad
Vashem during his visit to New
York City to address the United
Nations on International Holocaust
Remembrance Day on Jan. 27.
The petition was organized by the
Washington-based David S. Wyman
Institute for Holocaust Studies. It
was spearheaded by Rabbi Haskel
Lookstein, one of the first historians
to write about the rabbis' march, and
Rabbi Benyamin Kamenetzky, dean
emeritus of the South Shore (Long
Island) Yeshiva who was one of the
marchers in 1943.
"The rabbis' march was the only
rally for rescue of Europe's Jews
that was held in the nation's capital
during the Holocaust:' the petition
states. "The march and the Bergson
Group's other protests — rallies, lob-
bying in Washington, and hundreds
of newspaper advertisements —
helped shatter the silence surround-
ing the Holocaust and put pressure
on the Roosevelt administration
to take rescue action. These efforts
played an important role in bringing
about the creation of the U.S. gov-
ernment's War Refugee Board, which
helped save more than 200,000 Jews
from Hitler."
"Yad Vashem already includes
material pertaining to various
aspects of the Allies' disappoint-
ing response to the Holocaust:' the

Holocaust on page A30

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February 12 • 2009

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