Park East Synagogue And United Nations International Holocaust Remembrance Virtual Service
Park East Synagogue and the United Nations hosted an International Holocaust Remembrance virtual service on Monday, January 25, 2021. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and Rabbi Arthur Schneier, Park East Synagogue, delivered remarks. The program included the participation of the diplomatic corps, students at Rabbi Arthur Schneier Park East Day School, and music by Chief Cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot, Cantor Benny Rogosnitzky, and the Park East Synagogue Choir, led by Conductor Maestro Russell Ger.
Professor Asher Matathias commented on this commemoration of the official 76th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz. “Expressing our deepest sorrow for the past, for six million Jews must never be forgotten, and will always be remembered. Park East Synagogue presented a varied program in a virtual service with participants H.E. Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary General, and host Rabbi Arthur Schneier, now in his ninth decade of vital life—a Holocaust survivor, with some family members perishing in Auschwitz, while previously, in Vienna, witnessing Kristallnacht… The usually present throng in the inspiring cavernous sanctuary was absent. It’s an occasion that Anna and I are honored to be invited to, and attend. But this year the diplomatic corps was listed and honored virtually in the concluding credits. We continue to be mindful of COVID-19 strictures to maintain distance, avoid crowds, wash hands frequently, and be masked. We pray humanity’s present challenge be soon vanquished, and that we shall emerge from the darkest shared tunnel well, having been cautious, while keeping ourselves, our families, and communities safe. Amen.”
