Yom HaShoah commemorations draw thousands to Pan Pacific park

Two events recalling past genocides — and promising to fight against future ones — drew thousands of people to Pan Pacific Park on April 19.

The first event, Jewish World Watch’s (JWW) annual Walk to End Genocide, began with drumming and song and the sounds of the shofar, which then gave way to the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust’s (LAMOTH) more solemn Holocaust commemoration a few hours later.

The two events came on the heels of Yom HaShoah, which took place April 16 and marked the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The JWW walk, a 5-kilometer trek around neighborhoods surrounding Pan Pacific Park, drew more than 3,500 participants and 70 teams representing synagogues and day schools around Los Angeles.

It was the first time that organization — which was established at Valley Beth Shalom (VBS) of Encino to help combat worldwide genocide — was held without Rabbi Harold Schulweis, who co-founded the organization as a way to heed the “Never again” call of the Shoah. Schulweis died in December.

Janice Kamenir-Reznik, JWW co-founder and president, was among the many people who spotlighted Schulweis’ contributions to the cause and who remembered his legacy with fondness.

“In one way, we all reminded ourselves we’re here because of him and he is still sort of here because of us. It felt like a continuation of his legacy,” she said following the event. “I felt happy and proud that his life and all he did in his life will live on through this organization as well as through the other organizations he helped to start.”

Rabbi Noah Farkas of VBS said the synagogue’s team was walking in memory of the late rabbi.

“He would’ve had his 90th birthday last week,” Farkas said, just as the walk was about to commence with a sea of people wearing bright red T-shirts.

There are six JWW walks held around the country around this time of year, and Kamenir-Reznick told the Journal she expects they will raise about $400,000 collectively for the organization.

The event also made special mention of the 100th anniversary of the 1915 Armenian genocide. Turkey still does not officially acknowledge the tragedy as genocide.

Alec Mouhibian, 30, a filmmaker and local Armenian community member, attended the walk to call attention to the historic suffering of Armenians as well as to other mass atrocities.

“I’m here to … take part in this effort to remember and to promote the idea that this sickness has to stop and to try to figure out what this sickness is — that a government can exterminate an entire population of its citizens,” he said. “Where did it come from, why does it keep on happening, and why isn’t the world able to do anything about it?”

The LAMOTH program began at 2 p.m. with an audience of approximately 1,100 including city leaders, rabbis and others, who offered words of remembrance for the 6 million Jews who perished in the Shoah.

“I hope we, as Jews, will stand up to make sure that just as Germany has accepted its role [in the Holocaust] and has spoken out, and other countries have done the same, it is time for us to see that in every national capital, that when we see the mass extermination of peoples, we all have a responsibility to make sure that history is written,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said, speaking from the stage under a canopy set up for the day’s program.

Other participants included Rabbi Sharon Brous of IKAR, who delivered the invocation; Consul General of Israel in Los Angeles David Siegel; Holocaust survivor Eva Brettler; The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles President Jay Sanderson; LAMOTH executive director Samara Hutman; and L.A. City Council member Tom LaBonge, in whose district the museum is located. Philanthropists Jona Goldrich and LAMOTH President E. Randol Schoenberg, who both donated funds toward the construction of the museum, were also present.

Hutman emphasized the importance of carrying on the legacy of survivors.

“Let us all, together, commit to continue to carry one another and to hold each others’ histories; let us commit to say that this history is important and has meaning; let us remember it as we hope others will remember us, so that human life stolen is never forgotten, so that righteous action may be taken in their names,” she said from the podium.

Sanderson, for his part, expressed hopes that the community will come together again next year in even larger numbers to create a single, community-wide event that draws as many people as possible.

“We say ‘never again’ and I think we need to add: ‘not enough.’ We are not doing enough. … Next year, if  it is up to me, we are going to do
a community-wide event recognizing Yom HaShoah … and there’s going to be four times more people at this park next year; mark my words,” the Federation leader said from the stage. “Because we are not doing enough to take care of those who came before us, and we are not doing enough to protect their legacy.”

Pre-ceremony programs included an art exhibition at the museum as well as a panel moderated by this reporter, “How We Remember,” featuring members of 3G at LAMOTH, a group of third-generation Holocaust survivors.