The keynote speaker for the 72nd Annual Holocaust Commemoration of the Jewish Federation of North Jersey on Thurs., April 16, at Temple Beth Rishon is going to be Dr. Rachel Yehuda, Director of Traumatic Stress Studies Division at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine. Her talk is “How the Trauma of the Holocaust is ‘Genetically’ Transmitted from Survivors to Subsequent Generations.”

She is a professor of psychiatry and neurobiology who has authored more than 300 papers and has edited 10 volumes on biological studies of PTSD and the inter-generational transmission of trauma and PTSD. Most children of Holocaust survivors believe that they have, in some way, been affected by the trauma experienced by their parents. Recent research has indeed found that adult children of Holocaust survivors appear to be more susceptible to depression and anxiety but may also have more finely tuned mechanisms for detecting and coping with danger.

The program will include a candle-lighting procession, a Yiddish speaker, six survivor stories, the Kel Maleh Memorial Prayer, and the communal recitation of Kaddish and the Song of The Partisans. Temple Beth Rishon is located at 585 Russell Avenue, Wyckoff, New Jersey.

Photo exhibit is at 6 pm; program 6:30 pm. Free bussing is available from Fair Lawn at Temple Beth Sholom, 40-25 Fair Lawn Ave, at 5:30 pm.

For information please call Dr. Wallace Greene, 201-873-3263.

By Wallace Greene