Holocaust Remembrance Day at Hillel Yaffe Medical Center

At the ceremony, during which the speakers could not ignore the events of October 7, Dr. Mickey Dudkiewicz, Director General of the Medical Center, and Ms. Dina Fainblat, Head Nurse, both spoke about being second generation to mothers who survived the Holocaust. The audience was very moved by their words.

Dudkiewicz said, “After over 80 years of repeating the words “never again,” we were hit with the despicable events of October 7. The atrocities and slaughter most of us had only heard about from the horror stories of those who returned from ‘there.’ I can barely begin to imagine the level of trauma experienced by thousands of Holocaust survivors, hundreds of whom are residents of the towns on the Gaza border who were forced to flee their homes. This past year has demonstrated that evil has no expiration date, but actually because of this, we are duty bound to ‘remember and not forget’ and also to care for life itself. I truly hope that this coming Israeli Independence Day we will be blessed with good news and the return of the hostages.

Director General of Hillel Yaffe Medical Center, Dr. Mickey Dudkiewicz, speaking at the Holocaust Remembrance Day Ceremony

Fainblat, “I’m here, and that in and of itself is victory for my mother who lost her entire family in the Holocaust. Like my mother, I hope we will also know how to rise up from the destruction, grow stronger, thrive and refuse to accept evil in any form or shape, and choose to hold on to life and the future.”

Hospital Chaplain Rabbi Dovev Bindinger recited the prayer, El Malei Rachamim, in memory of the six million who perished and the Welfare Coordinator, Ms. Daniella Akev, read from a poem by Nathan Alterman, “Mother, May We Cry Now?” At the end of the ceremony, everyone sang Hatikva and lit memorial candles.