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Am Yisrael Chai!
Am Yisrael Chai is a Holocaust related program that focuses on the lives of families before, during and after the Holocaust. It is based on the spirit of the Jewish People not only to survive, but to succeed and excel at everything they do. While it looks at the broad scope of community life it focuses on individual people and on families. It encourages a pride in having survived and succeeded despite the horrendous circumstances in Nazi Germany, in its conquered countries and in the rest of the world.
The celebration has the following elements:
- An opening ceremony which is conducted outdoors at a Holocaust Memorial Garden consisting of a Dvar Torah, a presentation by the Israeli Consulate, a brief presentation by a Holocaust Survivor and a set of appropriate songs. This is followed by a set of more formal presentations in an Auditorium with presentations by Holocaust Survivors and Students who had been on March of the Living. Light dinner is served.
- Present in the Auditorium at the formal presentations are a number of Atlanta based authors of Memoires of their lives before, during and since the holocaust.
- The evening is also an opportunity to examine a set of posters which have been created by members of the Atlanta community who display photographs and text to illustrate their families’ lives before, during and after he Holocaust. This exhibit remains in place until Shavuot.
- From the opening event until the end of Shavuot the posters will remain open to the public and other events will take place including lectures, films and other discussions.
This program was started in 2008 when it focused on Jews and Jewish Communities of Eastern Europe and was followed in 2009 with a focus on Jews of the Sephardic Diaspora who were caught up in the Holocaust – most notably in Greece, Turkey and Iraq. For 2010 we are focusing on the Jews and Jewish Communities of Latin America.
Attendance is usually around 100-120 people for the main event.
We have a strong and committed core planning committee. We have partnerships with The Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, The Bremen History and Holocaust Museum, Hemshech and representatives from a number of different Shuls and organizations in the community.
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