Yom Ha’Shoah at Flint’s Temple Beth El April 30, 2008
Posted by Jack Kay in : Uncategorized , trackback30 April 2008, Temple Beth El, Flint Township, Michigan:
I had the honor of serving as guest speaker for a Community Holocaust Remembrance Program, “Yom Ha’Shoah Day of Remembrance” Commemoration and Candle Lighting, held at Temple Beth El. Sponosoring the program was the Flint Jewish Federation, along with Jewish Community Services, Congregation Beth Israel, the Ivriah, Temple Beth El, and Chabad House of Eastern Michigan.
“Yom HaZikaran laShoah ve-laGvura” is “Remembrance Day for the Holocaust and Heroism.” I shared with the audience the experiences of Leibish Kamerfuks, a survivor of the Holocaust. Tonight was the first time I publicly shared this story, revealing that Leibish Kamerfuks became Leon Kay, my father. I told about how my father, born on 14 November 1914, or perhaps ten years earlier, in Grodzik-Mazowiecki, Poland, lost his home, business, and possessions when the Nazis took over his town. I chronicled his experience in the Warsaw ghetto, where his father, mother, wife, and child were murdered while he was restrained by SS troopers. I recounted his experience in the Buchenwald concentration camp and his heroism in feeding others and helping others escape. Telling this story was hard for me, but I am convinced that my father’s story must be told–that the world must be reminded of the Holocaust so that such evil never happens again. Despite the unthinkable evil my father experienced, he continued to do good and to value life. My father was indeed a hero.
ABC12 covered the ceremony. Click here for video (commercial comes first).
Comments»
Thank you so very much for sharing your father’s heroic story at our community’s Yom Ha’Shoah service. It was deeply moving and will leave a lasting impression on me and, I’m sure, all who attended the event. We must never forget.
Would like to be in touch with Mr. Kay. My maternal family were also Kamerfuks, from Prushkov and wiped out in the Shoah.
Plear Email. Thanks