2024 Yom Hashoah Observance Program

Sunday, May 5, 2024
3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Beth Jacob Congregation
7020 North Main Street
Dayton, OH 45415

One Person Can Make A Difference: Righteous Among The Nations

3:00 p.m.: Max and Lydia May Memorial Holocaust Art and Writing Contest ~ Work on display in the social hall until 4:00 p.m. and following the program.
3:15 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.: Teen Program: “If You Don’t Ask, You’ll Never Know Why” ~ Second generation survivor Charlotte Golden facilitates a dialogue with teens and other children of Holocaust survivors. Contest participants and teens in our community are invited.
4:00 p.m.: Teen Candle Lighting ~ We invite our teens to meet at the door, prior to walking into the Beth Jacob sanctuary. We will provide you with candles to walk down and place on the Bema.
4:00 p.m.: Community Yom Hashoah Memorial Service ~ The tone will be set by international performer/composer Noah Gruenberg, who will play the electric violin. Presentation of contest winners will be followed by guest speaker Marilou Brewster.
4:00 p.m.: PJ Library and PJ Our Way Program, “How to Be a Mensch” ~ Join us for a story, craft, and snack. We will discuss how people of all ages can make a difference!

About the Speaker: Our guest speaker for the community program is Marilou Brewster. Marilou’s mother was born in Bonn, Germany. She married a Dutch citizen, Johannes. They were living in Amsterdam when the war broke out. They were not Jewish. He made false documents to save Jews. He was arrested by the Nazis only days after Margarethe gave birth to Marilou. Margarethe went to the German headquarters hundreds of times to get information about her husband which eventually helped in his release.

Interned at the satellite camp near Sachsenhausen, Johannes was allowed to “work” in Berlin as a volunteer-digging out live bombs that had fallen on the capital. “His pay was coming away from it alive,” his daughter says. The Feenstras were reunited when Marilou was only a year old. They later came to the United States. After the war, Johannes had a difficult adjustment to normal life and worried about his friends’ survival. The Feenstras lived in the Dayton area. Marilou was a German teacher at Centerville High School from 1983-1997. She also was a docent at the Museum of the United States Air Force.

RSVP below. Questions about the PJ Library program? Please contact Kate Elder at kelder@jfgd.net. All other questions please contact Jane Hochstein at jhochstein@jfgd.net.

Sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton. Presented by the Yom Hashoah Committee, the Holocaust Education Committee, and the 2024 Max & Lydia May Memorial Holocaust Art & Writing Contest.