02 May 2016
Attached are the personal stories for the six Holocaust survivors chosen as this year's honored torchlighters at the Opening Ceremony for Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day, 4 May 2016.
First Torch – Sara Kain
Second Torch – Robert Tomashof
Third Torch – Jehosua Hesel Fried
Fourth Torch – Joseph Labi
Fifth Torch – Chaim Grosbein
Sixth Torch – Lonia Rozenhoch
During the ceremony, short videos about each of the torchlighters will be shown, produced and directed by Shlomo Hazan.
These videos will be available on the Yad Vashem website in the section dedicated to Holocaust Remembrance Day. The central theme for this year's ceremony is "Everything is Forbidden to Us, and Yet We do Everything": The Struggle to Maintain the Human Spirit during the Holocaust.
The official Opening Ceremony for Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day will take place on Wednesday, 4 May 2016 at 20:00, in Warsaw Ghetto Square, Yad Vashem, Mount of Remembrance, Jerusalem.
At the ceremony, Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will both deliver remarks. Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council, will kindle the Memorial Torch. Zehava Roth will speak on behalf of the survivors. The ceremony will also include the traditional memorial service – the recitation of Kaddish by the Rishon LeZion Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef; the of a chapter from Psalms, recited by the Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi David Lau; and El Maleh Rahamim, the Jewish prayer for the souls of the martyrs, recited by Cantor Israel Parnes. Participants in the ceremony will include singers Kobi Aflalo and the IDF Paratroopers’ Honor Guard. Narrative pieces: Actress Netta Garti. The evening’s MC will be Danny Cushmaro. The ceremony will be broadcast live on television on Channels 1, 2, 10 and 33, on Channel 9 in Russian, and on the news website Walla as well as on radio on Kol Israel and Galei Zahal. It will last about 75 minutes.
