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Holocaust Memorial, Israel Independence Service Held At Young Israel
Jewish members of the community were out in force at Young Israel of Canarsie Monday night to attend the Annual Holocaust Memorial ceremony, which remembers the six million Jews who died in concentration camps during World War II. The event also marked Israel Independence Day. City Councilman Lew Fidler, one of the main speakers at the service, claimed that Jews couldn’t afford to miss these important memorials, "because if they don’t keep them going then no one else will." He said that, for the third year in a row, he has been a co-sponsor of a proposal, which has been turned down, to establish a City Council resolution commemorating the historic events. Rabbi Myron Rakowitz of the Sephardic Jewish Center addressed the importance of remembering those who died simply for being Jewish, because, as he claimed, they did it in order to ensure the survival of future generations of Jewish people. Senator John Sampson spoke about putting aside our prejudices and remembering those who died for what they believed in. "We must remember that we are all one people in the eyes of God," said Sampson. "No matter what color or religion we are, we are all here to carry out God’s work." Steven Gershbein, representing Assemblyman Frank Seddio was happy to report that the assemblyman plans to purchase $10,000 in Israeli bonds in memory of Holocaust victims. The final speaker was a Holocaust survivor who avoided being captured by the Nazis by hiding with his family as a nine year-old boy in the former Czech Republic. John Balan, 69, of Nantucket, Massachusetts, told stories of his tumultuous childhood that sometimes forced him to run and hide from Nazis. The first step Balan and his father took to avoid being captured by Nazi soldiers was to become baptized as Protestants. Balan claimed that you stood a fighting chance of avoiding capture if you were born Jewish and converted to Protestantism. However, in 1944, the partisans of the Czech Republic began to stage a successful uprising and the Nazis responded by rounding up all Jews, regardless of their religious orientation, for fear that they would lose control over that particular part of Eastern Europe. Balan and his family were forced to hide and remain silent in cupboards for the entire night when Nazi-controlled Slovakian soldiers came to round up Jews in his tenement. Finally, Balan and his father escaped to New York City where they continued to practice as Protestants, due mainly to the paranoia Balan’s father felt about anyone finding out that they were both born as Jews. "It wasn’t until recently that I finally began to embrace my Jewish heritage," said Balan. "I was tired of living a charade and I now know that when you are born Jewish, you will always be Jewish. And I am now happy to finally be practicing my true faith."
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