Lost Kaddish
Join us for a special commemorative event honoring the memory of Jewish soldiers who were never given a proper Jewish burial.
During World War II, 200,000 Jews served in the Soviet Army forces. They fought and died like ordinary Soviet soldiers, never identified as Jews by the Soviet state. When they perished in fighting, they were never given a proper Jewish burial, with no one saying Kaddish for them. This event commemorates the memory of those soldiers, and documents their story as one of Jewish Resistance, a part of the narrative that is often overlooked.
Join us in honoring the memory of these and other Jewish soldiers who died fighting during World War II.
A panel will be speaking on a variety of experiences from Jews who served in the military and how it relates to proactively defending ourselves and our country today. The hope is for these discussions to spark a generational connection through the telling of the heroic stories of Jewish soldiers.
This event will also showcase the Speak Memory Project, displaying poignant photographs and personal stories.
A follow-up event below will accompany Lost Kaddish:
Kaddish for 100 Books
Hills of Eternity, Colma
Sunday, May 15
2:00 pm
El Camino Real, Colma, CA 94014
Books of Memory (11 volumes) originally published in 1992-2015, contain the names of more than 100,000 Jewish individuals who perished while serving in the armed forces of the former Soviet Union during World War II. With the passage of time, most of the men and women named in the volumes have been forgotten.
The Books of Memory are available at major Jewish history repositories like Yad Vashem, Holocaust Museum, Russian WW2 History Center, and collections in family libraries around the world.
Recently, Bay Area Jewish community members discovered about 100 duplicate copies of the Books, and felt that they could not just be recycled, but needed to be treated as symbolic and sacred items, such any religious text or the American Flag.
In keeping with the tradition of how to properly dispose of Torah scrolls, these Books will be buried at Hills of Eternity on May 15, Allied Victory in Europe Day (known as V-E Day to mark the Allies' formal acceptance of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender).
Yom HaZikaron, Israeli Memorial Day, also falls on May 11.
