(Courtesy of Jewish Community Council of Teaneck) Over 1100 people attended the annual Teaneck Yom HaShoah Commemoration sponsored by the Jewish Community Council of Teaneck at Teaneck High School on April 11. The keynote speaker was Dr. Moshe Avital, who survived 10 concentration and labor camps before finally being liberated in Buchenwald 73 years ago. He was one of those who had to pass through the infamous Dr. Josef Mengele inspections and lost much of his family in Auschwitz and other labor camps. After the war, he made aliyah and fought for the Haganah in the War of Independence and the Sinai Campaign in 1956. The audience was captivated as Dr. Avital, who authored 16 books, many about the Holocaust, gave a detailed account of his experiences and his desire to survive and tell his story.

Music of the Holocaust was performed by Jonathan Rimberg, accompanied by Stephanie Kurtzman on violin and the Yeshivat Noam Choir. A moving part of the program was when Rabbi Jonny Krug and Arline Duker read the names of relatives of community members who were killed in the Holocaust, while photographs of the victims flashed on the screen followed by the traditional lighting of candles by six survivors and their children and grandchildren. Rabbi Yosef Adler of Congregation Rinat Yisrael concluded the emotional program with his recital of Kaddish and Kel Maale Rachamim. The annual Yom HaShoah is the largest Jewish communal gathering in the county.