Yesterday at 10:00 AM Israel-time entire Jewish communities stopped
what they were doing no matter where or what they were doing to remember that
Hitler’s Nazi regime murdered about 6,000,000 MILLION Jews for no other
reason than Aryan supremacist beliefs that Germans are a superior race and Jews
are among the most evil sub-species of humans on earth. THE BELIEF IS
JEW-HATRED POPPYCOCK!
Israel came to a standstill at 10
a.m. Thursday as sirens wailed throughout the country in memory of the six
million Jews murdered by the Nazis during World War II.
Buses and cars halted on streets
and highways as Israelis stepped out of their vehicles and stood with heads
bowed.
The sirens were followed by
ceremonies marking Holocaust Remembrance Day in schools, public institutions
and army bases. …
In the wee hours of yesterday morning, Ari Bussel shared an
email of his remembrance of the Holocaust.
**************************
Cedars-Sinai's Yom Ha'Shoah Holocaust Remembrance Day
Program - 4/11/2018
By Ari Bussel
Sent 4/12/2018 1:00 AM
I am the son of Holocaust Survivors, but this story is not
about my parents, rather about their generation, about those who survived the
Holocaust.
My father’s mother left one day, and did not come back.
One of the Polish neighbors informed the authorities. The Poles did
not only “follow orders;” the atrocities were not perpetrated only by the Nazis
and at their direction. The Poles were willing and often eager
participants. If I were in Poland today, such pronouncements would be
punishable by law, for according to the new law, the Poles were themselves just
innocent victims of the Nazis, nothing more.
Display of Holocaust Era
Family Photo
On this Remembrance Day to the Holocaust and the Bravery (as
it is called in Israel), we remember my grandmother on my father’s side (both
seen in the picture above), my grandfather on my mother’s side and the entire
extended family who perished during the Holocaust.
Yesterday you received from me a reminder of Cedars-Sinai's
Yom Ha'Shoah Holocaust Remembrance Day Program that took place today, April
11th, 2018.
I wrote that to me, Dr. Joel
Geiderman’s 34th annual
program is likely the most significant of all. Doctors (MDs), nurses,
staff, the general public and Holocaust Survivors gather year after year, for
three and a half decades, to hear a lecture, have a box lunch, witness
Survivors lighting six candles commemorating the Six Million Jews who perished
during the Holocaust in WWII (1939-1945) - among which were more than one
million children - and hear the recitation of Kadish [aka Kaddish] and El
Maleh Rachamim (“God Full of Mercy”) prayers.
Dr. Geiderman graciously gives credit to others, but it is his program, and the
generosity of an enduring gift by the Feintech family that enables this
program. Will it survive after Dr. Geiderman? What will happen when
there will be no more Survivors still living among us?
Today, Dr. Guiderman asked the children of Holocaust Survivors
to stand up. We stood and looked around - there were many of us; as many
as the number of Survivors when I started attending this program so many years
ago.
We gathered to bear witness, promising “Never Forger; Never
Again.”
Yom Ha'Shoah 2018 at Cedars
Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles.
Beverly Hills, Jerusalem of Gold and Holocaust Survivor
Max Webb
Prior to the start of the program, members of the Jerusalem
of Gold Committee (the official celebration in 2017 of “The City of
Angels Saluting the City of God” marking 50 years of the Reunification of
Jerusalem, Israel’s capital) presented a proclamation issued by the City of
Beverly Hills to Max Webb, a Holocaust Survivor.
The City Council headed by (then Mayor) Lili Bosse
issued 100 individual proclamations to 100 Holocaust Survivors who were still
alive at that time, vowing and promising “We Will Never Forget You!”
Max Webb, who was unable to attend at that time, received
his Proclamation today.
Holocaust Survivor Max Webb
received his Proclamation 2018
Members of the Jerusalem of Gold Committee:
(Standing) Dr. Pablo Nankin, Susanne Reyto, Marina Waks,
Zohreh Mizrahi (Seated) Ari Bussel, Max Webb, Shahla Javdan
Max Webb is either the last or one of only two or three
surviving members of the 1939 Club. Years ago, when Pastor
John Hagee (the most famous Evangelical Christian supporter of Israel and
the Jewish people, founder of CUFI) was still not known, the Israel
Christian Nexus hosted his visit to Los Angeles. We had three
events scheduled in his honor. A morning event, followed by a meeting
with the Board of Rabbis at the Jewish Federation of Greater LA (where Rabbi
Kravitz, the father, of Jews for Judaism, asked Pastor Hagee about
proselytization attempts; Pastor Hagee did not blink as he replied:
“Teach your young ones; and then nothing will succeed to sway them from
their beliefs” and added unequivocally “we support you, no strings attached; we
do not want to proselytize your children”). From there we continued to
the Hillcrest Club, where the 1939 Club hosted a reception for Mrs. and Pastor
Hagee.
I remember as we arrived with the guests and entered the
hall where the reception took place, the members of the 1939 Club
were already waiting for us. The picture in my mind is of “small” and
frail people, who were already “old” at that time, very old. Alas,
memories of a young man.
Max Webb, as you can see from the pictures, looks fantastic,
although he has passed the 100 year mark either a year or two years ago!
In Israel, in each university, there is at least one
building with his and his wife’s name on it. He has always given most
generously. As he told Shlomo z”l and Frida Rosenblatt long
ago: “I have, so I am giving.”
This spirit of given has not diminished. Its meaning
is magnified when one learns (as I did from Mrs. Rosenblatt, herself and her
late husband both Holocaust Survivors) that at home, before WWII, Max Webb’s
family was extremely poor. When he was walking to the Cheder (place of
learning, the equivalent of elementary school), as he was lifting one foot
after another, the water was pouring out from the bottom of the shoes (I am not
sure if they even had soles).
Nate Shapell z”l
As a kid, I knew of Nate (Nathan)
Shapell, for he used to
underwrite the State of Israel Independence Day official Consulate reception in
the Beverly Hills Hotel.
He and brother David (also deceased) have supported
Israel in numerous ways. The Beverly Hills annual extravagance was not
even the cherry at the top; it was simply something they most generously did.
For members of the Israeli community, it was the most
coveted invitation at that time, likely similar to receiving an invitation to
the Oscars today. I was fortunate to accompany my father year after year
(as my mother shies away from such events).
Shapell continued to underwrite the reception until Israel's
Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a world-wide directive to all its diplomatic
missions prohibiting individual sponsorships of official events.
Several years ago, one of the leaders of the local Israeli
community passed away. General Shimon Erem founded and headed to
his last day the Israel Christian Nexus, on whose founding board I had the
privilege of serving (until Gen. Erem’s death).
Shimon’s wife Danielle, who will be 98 on September
22, 2018, has given me much of Shimon’s very extensive library, which we
distributed among Jewish and Christian community- and religious leaders.
Among the books were two copies (second printing, 1974) of “Witness
to the Truth” by Nate Shapell.
1974 2nd Printing Witness
to the Truth by Nate Shapell
Here is an excerpt from the jacket to the book:
Nathan Shapell was 17yo when he
Germans occupied his hometown in Poland. Ordinary life vanished from the
face of Europe; there was only survival and horror or death to choose between.
Shapell fought with every weapon at his command - his ingenuity, his
resourcefulness, and his incredible courage - not for himself but for the lives
of his family and friends.
After managing to outwit the
Nazis hour by hour with his fellow Jews in the ghettoes, he was taken at last
to Auschwitz, and from the summer of 1943 on, he endured was two few lived to
tell. He survived Auschwitz, death marches, and two more concentration
camps. Then his story, and Witness to the Truth, begins.
The book tells that story, and
it also conveys a vote of thanks to those ordinary American soldiers and
officers who found themselves in an unexpected role. He bears witness to
their humanity and decency; he also bears witness to eh survivors and to the
silent dead. Finally, he reaches out to all people, especially young
Americans, to show them that a man can go through the worst hell imaginable,
survive it, still love his fellow men, and even go on to become a part of what
is now called “the establishment.”
Nate Shapell’s daughter, Vera Guerin, participates in
the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day Program, until this year as the Chair of
Cedars-Sinai board of directors. So today I brought a copy of the book to
her. I suspected she has many copies at home, but she was grateful to
have it.
Her aunt (Nate’s sister) was Max Webb’s wife. Nate z”l
and Max are brothers-in-law. A small world indeed.
[Dr. Geiderman: I do not have Vera’s or Max’s e-mail
addresses; kindly please forward this to them.]
This is the story of One Proclamation, One Book and a
ceremony in its 34th year, a commitment that keeps on going. It seems
that by design, they are all connected. Likewise, in life, we - the
Jewish People - are all connected; and we - the Saturday and Sunday People,
Jews and Christians - are all connected. We are one, all created in the
image of our God the Almighty.
Ellie and Dr. Pablo Nankin, Dr. Nepune Mizrahi, Esther
Hezghian
Susanne Reyto, Janet Kirt
Beverly Hills Synagogue (YINBH) Cantor Nati Baram singing
El Maleh Rachamim
Lighting Six Candles [Representing 6,000,000 Murdered
Jews], remembering the Six Million Jews who perished during the Holocaust [1
& 2]
Suzee and her mother, Holocaust Survivor Lili Markowitz
Esther Blaugrund, Zohreh Mizrahi and Shahla Javdan, a
prominent leader of the Jewish Iranian community
Zohreh Mizrahi, Cantor Nati Baram, Dr. Pablo and Ellie
Nankin
Below picture is from March 2, 2017, United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum Los Angeles Dinner “What You Do Matters:
Celebrating Max Webb’s 100th Birthday with a special tribute"
________________________
Minor editing by John R. Houk
Source links are by the
Editor embedded for non-Jewish understanding.
© Ari Bussel
Ari Bussel is Vice President
of Operations at Saybrex International, a privately held family business
specializing in the distribution of fine wines and spirits. He is responsible
for the day-to-day operations of the company and has held various positions in
the company since 1993.
Prior to joining Saybrex, Mr.
Bussel served as First Lieutenant in the Center for Systems Analysis at General
Headquarters of the Israel Defense Forces, where he led the implementation of
the Logistics War Doctrine in the Computerized Wargame Program.
Mr. Bussel is involved in a
variety of philanthropic and civic activities. Mr. Bussel completed the Team
Beverly Hills Leadership Program and served on the Environmental Sustainability
Topic Committee of the City of Beverly Hills. He was a member of the Steering
Committees of former Beverly Hills Mayor MeraLee Goldman and the current
Beverly Hills City Treasurer, the Hon. Eliot Finkel. Mr. Bussel also completed
and participated in the Community Emergency Response Training Program of the
City of Beverly Hills as well as the Crisis Response Team of the Maple
Counseling Center.
Mr. Bussel was among the
founding members and served on the boards of Gen. Shimon Erem’s Israel
Christian Nexus, the Western Region of Friends of Israel Firefighters and the
Israel Institute for Alternative Energy Advancement. He completed the Salvin
Leadership Program of the Anti-Defamation League.
Mr. Bussel writes regularly.
For the past decade, his weekly columns appeared in print in Israel Jewish
Life, Shalom LA, Muslim World Today and Israeli Week. Mr. Bussel’s articles
appear on numerous websites, including Canada Free Press, Free Republic,
NewsBlaze, SlantRight and OpEdNews. He is a member of the Los Angeles
Press Club.
Mr. Bussel received a Master
of Science in Operations Research from Stanford University and Bachelor’s
degrees from UCLA in Applied Mathematics and in Economics with a specialization
in Computing.
Mr. Bussel was an avid runner
who completed the 2005 and 2006 Los Angeles Marathon.
Mr. Bussel divides his time
between Israel and the United States, writing about the social, political,
military and foreign policy fabrics of the two countries. Mr. Bussel is a
member of the foreign press corps in Israel. Since 2008, Mr. Bussel has
cooperated with award winning investigative journalist and author in a series of
essays “Postcards from America – Postcards from Israel,” and since 2011 in a
series of radio broadcasts “Conversations Eye to Eye.”
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