Pro-Israel education organization StandWithUs held a candle-lighting ceremony, film screening and timely Q-and-A during a recent event commemorating Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day).
“Remembering the Holocaust is a priority to each one of us in this room tonight,” StandWithUs CEO Roz Rothstein said during the April 17 program at the Saban Theater in Beverly Hills. “We are all here together to remember, to share our grief, to learn something new, to be inspired, and hopefully to recommit to sharing information about the Holocaust with others, to help fight the dangers of ignorance.”
At the start of the evening, Rothstein and other community leaders lit six candles for the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust; one candle for the non-Jews who perished; and one for those who Rothstein described as “victims of Palestinian terrorism.”
Nearly 400 attendees attended the program, held in partnership with Temple of the Arts, the Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles, the German Consulate General Los Angeles, Holocaust Museum LA and Brothers for Life.
“Memories fade,” Temple of the Arts Rabbi David Baron said, “and we cannot allow the memory of the six million to ever fade from our consciousness and memories.”
Former Israeli soldiers from Brothers for Life, an organization pairing injured IDF soldiers with newly wounded combat veterans, participated. Additional speakers included Consul General of Israel in Los Angeles Hillel Newman and Consul General of Germany in Los Angeles Stefan Schneider. Musician Jenna Parris performed “Eli, Eli,” followed by Hatikvah.
The candle-lighting was followed by a screening of the 2020 feature film, “Resistance,” starring Jesse Eisenberg in the true World War II story of Marcel Marceau, a French-Jewish mime who joins the resistance and smuggles Jewish orphans over the Swiss border, saving dozens of young lives.
A post-screening Q-and-A featured “Resistance” writer-director Jonathan Jakubowicz and producer Claudine Jakubowicz. Seated onstage with StandWithUs Los Angeles Executive Director Erinn Alcabes, the filmmaking duo discussed contemporary antisemitism in the United States, with Jonathan Jakubowicz pointing to hateful statements from rapper Kanye West as evidence that Jew-hatred continues among the mainstream today.
Thus, he said, it’s important to support organizations committed to combating antisemitism, including StandWithUs.
During the Q-and-A, Maya Werthein, a senior at YULA Girls High School and a StandWithUs Kenneth Leventhal high school intern, asked how she and her peers could proactively resist antisemitism.
The answer, Claudine Jakubowicz said, was simple: embrace your Jewish heritage and be proud of who you are.
On Yom Hashoah, it was an appropriate message for anyone of any age.
The Orthodox Union (OU) has named Los Angeles community member Moshe Sassover to its board of directors.
Sassover was among 14 new OU board members from across the U.S. and Canada elected to a two-year term.
“The OU extends its heartfelt congratulations to Moshe Sassover and all of our new board members on joining this important journey with the OU,” OU President Mitchel Aeder said. “These individuals, who reflect the breadth of our community, were chosen for their dedication to communal service, and I look forward to working together to help the OU achieve our many goals.”
Professionally, Sassover is on the executive committee of a real estate investment firm. He is active with Young Israel of North Beverly Hills, the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, AIPAC and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, among other communal organizations.
The OU, founded in 1898, is the largest Orthodox umbrella organization in the country and the self-described voice of American Orthodox Jewry.
Former White House Middle East Envoy Jason Greenblatt has joined the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA) as its senior director of Arab-Israel diplomacy.
Greenblatt — who was a senior member of the White House team during the Trump administration and helped broker the historic Abraham Accords in 2020 that lead to normalization agreements between Israel, the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco — joins the JCPA at a watershed moment for the institute; it just hosted the first Arab-Israel-Africa security conference.
“We are honored to welcome Jason to the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs as a senior member of our team,” JCPA President Dan Diker said. “Jason brings with him a wealth of experience and close relations with Arab states across the region, including some without normalization agreements with Israel.”
Greenblatt, for his part, expressed excitement about the new role.
“The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs is not just a think-tank, it’s a ‘do-tank,’” he said. “I am proud to join JCPA as senior director for Israel-Arab diplomacy building on the work I was privileged to do while serving as White House Middle East envoy.”
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