DECEMBER 29 • 2022 | 9
ISRAEL from page 8
Winter is Here!
Vinter iz doe
Indroisn is snow.
Ich zog: Oy vay iz mir
Farmach yeder tir,
Oy, avu can I go?
Vinter iz doe: winter is here
Indroisn: outside
Ich zog: I say
Oy vay iz mir: woe to me
Farmach yeder tir: close every door
avu: where
By Rachel Kapen
guest column
A New Beginning for the
Zekelman Holocaust Center
T
he lessons of the
Holocaust have taken
on greater urgency in
recent months, among them
that antisemitism neither began
nor ended with the Nazi regime.
Of late, age-old
stereotypes about
Jews are reenter-
ing mainstream
conversation, and
acts of antisem-
itism are occur-
ring with greater
frequency nation-
wide and here at home.
At the Zekelman Holocaust
Center (“the Center”), we have
a critical role to play in creat-
ing a world free from hate. As
visitors explore the vibrancy of
European Jewry before 1933,
and then journey into the abyss
of the Third Reich’s system of
dehumanization and extermina-
tion of Jews, they viscerally feel
what was lost to history: Jewish
families never raised and a cul-
ture decimated.
They also learn that the dark-
ness that descended over Europe
was a result of everyday choices
made by ordinary Germans
and their collaborators, from
the teacher who encouraged
taunting of Jewish classmates to
the train engineers who drove
boxcars filled with Jews.
In so learning, visitors under-
stand that each one of us is
capable of both good and evil,
and that we have the agency to
choose between them. As they
read postcards sent from the
Krakow Ghetto begging relatives
in Detroit for Rosh Hashanah
clothing, learn about the
Kindertransport and Jews hid-
den by righteous gentiles, visi-
tors to the Center young and old
make connections to their own
lives — how do they respond to
hatred and intolerance in our
world?
We are now in the process of
a major update to the Center, to
guide the next generation of vis-
itors through a state-of-the-art
exhibit informed by best practic-
es in museum education.
When our founders opened
the Holocaust Center in 1984
as a memorial to the 6 million,
they could not have anticipated
the number of interest groups,
young and old, who walk
through our doors, including
the tens of thousands of middle
and high school students who by
state law must receive Holocaust
and genocide education.
With great forethought and
intention, we are moving away
from a perpetrator-centered
narrative to one that emphasizes
the impact on the victims of
history’s greatest crime. As the
population of Holocaust survi-
vors dwindles, elevating their
testimonies becomes increas-
ingly important. In the new
permanent exhibit, the local
Michigan survivors who settled
here after the war and contrib-
uted so much to our community
will rightfully have the first and
last word.
We are also expanding our
adult education outreach.
Dozens of professional groups
from every sector come annu-
ally to the Center for tours and
trainings with our staff to learn
about the complicity of corpo-
rate, medical, legal and security
professionals during World War
II, providing opportunities for
these groups to consider what
sorts of challenges they might
be faced with today and how to
respond.
Our overarching goal at the
Center is for everyone to stand
up to hatred, antisemitism and
racism, motivated by compas-
sion and care for our fellow
human beings. With your sup-
port we can continue to educate
Michigan residents about the
dangerous consequences of
intolerance and hate.
Partner with us as we prepare
for the future. In the words of
Jack Gun z”l, a Holocaust sur-
vivor who spoke often at the
Center, “The world should be a
better world, not the one I lived
through.
”
Rabbi Eli Mayerfeld is CEO of The
Zekelman Holocaust Center. To learn
more about the Center’s Comprehensive
Campaign, visit www.holocaustcenter.
org or call (248) 553-2400.
Rabbi Eli
Mayerfeld
Israel disobeys the Geneva
Conventions against occupa-
tion, Israel has never relocated
its citizens to the territory of
another nation.
In short, Israel is one of the
world’s most moral, enlight-
ened democracies — few
nations can match its expan-
sive civil rights, legal protec-
tions for minorities, equality
of liberties and opportunities
and adherence to interna-
tional law. No wonder the
EIU 2021 Democracy Index
ranked Israel the world’s 23rd
most successful democracy —
ahead of the U.S., Spain, Italy
and 139 other nations.
Far from being a white
colonial nation, an oppres-
sor of Arabs or a violator of
human rights, Israel is one of
the freest, most diverse and
law-abiding countries in the
world.
James Sinkinson is president of
Facts and Logic About the Middle
East (FLAME), which publishes edu-
cational messages to correct lies
and misperceptions about Israel
and its relationship with the United
States.