Yom HaShoah Commemoration and Stories of Hope
17 Apr @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
In person & online
Open to members & non-members
This program is also part of the religious school & Pathways programming for 7th graders and older
Stories of Hope: Confronting Challenging Histories and Building Bridges to Reconciliation and Understanding
Please join us as we remember and commemorate the Holocaust and remember all those who were lost. In addition to a service with readings and music, we will be joined by guest speakers from Widen the Circle, Founder Joel Obermayer and program participant Dr. Karlos K. Hill.
Watch our Livestream
While stories of bigotry and hate tend to get the headlines, many people are quietly working to create respect and understanding in their own communities. Widen the Circle works with people in Germany and the United States who are uncovering local history—history related to trauma and injustice–like German Jewish history and the Holocaust or the history of racism in the U.S. They are using that history to combat antisemitism, racism, and xenophobia, and to create a more just world today.
Founder Joel Obermayer will share some of the inspiring stories of people doing this work and creating understanding and reconciliation where none seemed possible. He’ll also discuss why this type of community-based effort is so effective and holds so much hope for the future.
He will be joined by Dr. Karlos K. Hill, a professor of African American studies at the University of Oklahoma. He has authored books on the history of lynching, racial violence, and their legacies in the black experience, with particular focus on the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Dr. Hill has participated in the Widen the Circle’s International Bridge Building initiative, which brings American activists to Germany for an immersive learning experience with their German counterparts. He will talk about the inspiring work he has seen in Germany and how it is energizing and influencing remembrance activists in the United States.