It’s the 60th Anniversary of the State of Israel
and the 20th of the March of the Living.

May 8 triggers mixed emotions for Max Eisen
It is a day of sorrow: On this date 63 years ago, Max Eisen, his parents, three younger siblings, grandparents, aunt and uncle were herded like cattle in railcars from their home in what was then eastern Hungary to Auschwitz. Except for Eisen, the rest of the family perished in the camp. It is also a day of celebration: Eisen, a Toronto resident, is in Israel to mark that country's 60th anniversary as a nation today. "It's a very emotional anniversary for me – both good and bad. Going there (Auschwitz) was a painful thing, but Israel's independence is a wonderful thing. When I was a prisoner in the camp, I would have never have dreamt this would become a reality," says Eisen, 79, by phone from Israel. He is among 46 people from Toronto who participated last week in a March of the Living in Poland. Toronto Star, May 8, 2008. Read more.

Analyze This: From Chelsea to Auschwitz
There is no shortage of drama on or off the field in the world of professional football, neither in this country nor elsewhere in the world. But the saga of Chelsea coach Avraham Grant, especially as it has unfolded in the past few days, is the kind of sports story even a Hollywood screenwriter might deem a tad melodramatic. Elements of Grant's case, though, extend far beyond the field of athletics, encompassing the Holocaust, modern-day anti-Semitism, the British media and even geo-politics. Jerusalem Post, May 2, 2008. Read more.

Eight thousand walk March of the Living
Eight thousand young Jews from 17 countries walked in the March of the Living to pay tribute to the Holocaust victims in Auschwitz-Birkenau, south Poland, on May 1. The March of the Living Participants entered the former Nazi death camp Auschwitz II - Birkenau through the Gate of Death. They said the Jewish mourners’ prayer Kaddish and an endless list of names of the Holocaust victims was heard from the speakers, reports Dziennik daily. The News (Poland), May 2, 2008. Read more.

Avram Grant's poignant letter,
which appeared in Thursday's edition of the Tel Aviv-based newspaper Maariv. The Mail, May 2, 2008. Read more.

IDF chief at Auschwitz: We take calls for Israel's destruction seriously
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi said Thursday that on this Holocaust Remembrance Day, Israel takes very seriously the calls for its destruction. Ashkenazi addressed 12,000 people at the March of the Living ceremony in the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland, saying "in these days, as we celebrate 60 years of independence, the fact that an independent Jewish state exists is not something to be taken for granted. Even today, we hear the horrible sounds of those who call for the destruction of the state of Israel. Even today we are forced to continue and fight for our right to have a national home in a safe place for the Jewish people in their own land. We have learned our lesson and we take very seriously the threats of state leaders who call for the destruction of Israel." Haaretz, May 2, 2008. Read more.

'We take threat to destroy us seriously'
"We will never allow our sons and daughters, our parents and grandparents to be wiped off the face of the earth again," IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi said Thursday in his address at the March of the Living ceremony in Auschwitz Birkenau in Poland. "We have learned our lesson and we are taking threats to destroy Israel seriously." Jerusalem Post, May 2, 2008. Read More.

Avram Grant confronts horrors of past
Just hours after leading his Chelsea team to their first Champions League final, Avram Grant found perspective at Auschwitz, where he said his pride at Israel's emergence from the horrors of the Holocaust surpassed any football achievement. Telegraph, May 2, 2008. Read more.

Chelsea coach Avram Grant joins 'March of the Living' at Auschwitz in memory of Holocaust victims
On the day Avram Grant delivered an address to more than 10,000 Jews at Auschwitz, a letter from him appeared in a newspaper in his native Israel. It was as emotive as the speech he prepared for those he joined on Holocaust Day for the threekilometre March Of The Living between Auschwitz and Birkenau. A eulogy to his father, who survived the Holocaust but only after burying just about every other member of his family, and an intensely personal account of events at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night. Daily Mail, May 2, 2008. Read More.

Thousands participate in March of Living
Over 11,000 youths from 52 countries take part in journey from Auschwitz to Birkenau on event's 20th anniversary. Ynetnews / Yedioth Internet / Israel News, May 1, 2008. Read more.

Young Jews march at Auschwitz site in memory of Holocaust victims
OSWIECIM, Poland: Some 10,000 young Jews, Poles and World War II survivors took part in the March of the Living on Thursday, an annual event at the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau that honors the memory of some 6 million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. This year's march, the 17th, started with the blowing of the shofar, or ram's horn, at the iron gate — crowned with the words "Arbeit Macht Frei," or "Work Sets You Free" — that leads into the former camp of Auschwitz. The misleading inscription was to suggest to inmates they were coming to work, not die here. The Associated Press / International Herald Tribune. May 1, 2008. Read more.

Hewlett girl takes part in "March of the Living"
Samantha Frankel of Hewlett, a Lynbrook High School sophomore, is prepared to miss two weeks of school - because what she will experience during that time, she believes, cannot be taught in any classroom. The 16-year-old and eight other girls from Long Island are taking part in a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Europe and then Israel to commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day, as well as the anniversary of the state of Israel. (New York) Herald Community Papers, May 1, 2008. Read more.

Never again... and again... and again
Shmuel Rosenman says that when he was growing up on Moshav Hemed - where he still resides - the Holocaust was neither a subject that was discussed in his household nor one in which he took any particular interest. This is in spite of the fact that his mother came here in 1933 from Poland and his father from Romania in the middle of World War II, after most of his family was wiped out. It is also in spite of the moshav's having had many members who were survivors - "but they didn't talk about it much." It was not until he was an adult - and head of high school education in Tel Aviv - that Rosenman, 61, had an epiphany which changed his perspective. The "trigger," he recounts, was a conversation he overheard between two pupils studying for their matriculation exams. "One asked the other, 'Tell me, have you already covered the material on the Napoleonic wars?' The other answered, 'Not yet. I'm still going over the chapter on the Holocaust.' Suddenly I realized that the Holocaust was being taught as simply another chapter of history. And I understood that if we didn't take drastic measures, the Shoah would remain just that." The Jerusalem Post, April 30, 2008. Read more.

March Of Living Tweaking Message
This week, when thousands of young people descend on Poland for the March of the Living program, some of them will bring more in their bags than the typical Israeli flags, prayer books and changes of clothing: For the first time, some students will bring books to donate to a fledgling library established recently by Czulent, a group of young Polish Jews living in Krakow. The Jewish Week, New York, April 30, 2008. Read more.

From Auschwitz, a Torah as Strong as Its Spirit
The back story of how a Torah got from the fetid barracks of Auschwitz to the ark of the Central Synagogue at Lexington Avenue and 55th Street is one the pastor of the Lutheran church down the street sums up as simply “miraculous.” It is the story of a sexton in the synagogue in the Polish city of Oswiecim who buried most of the sacred scroll before the Germans stormed in and later renamed the city Auschwitz. It is the story of Jewish prisoners who sneaked the rest of it — four carefully chosen panels — into the concentration camp. It is the story of a Polish Catholic priest to whom they entrusted the four panels before their deaths. It is the story of a Maryland rabbi who went looking for it with a metal detector. And it is the story of how a hunch by the rabbi’s 13-year-old son helped lead him to it. New York Times, April 30, 2008. Read more.

Israel commemorates Holocaust Wednesday evening
Memorial events commemorating Remembrance Day for the Holocaust and Heroism will begin on Wednesday at 7:30 pm with a state ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem. President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will deliver speeches during the ceremony, and Holocaust survivors will light up six torches, in memory of the six millions murdered in the Shoah. Ynetnews / Yedioth Internet / Israel News, April 30, 2008. Read more.

Marchers set to depart for Poland
THE latest group of March of the Living (MOTL) participants will this year take part in a world record attempt to have the most people singing Israel’s national anthem Hatikvah at the one time. The special addition to this year’s trip will form part of the celebrations for Israel’s 60th anniversary for the 87 Australian and New Zealand MOTL participants. The Australian Jewish News, April 28, 2008. Read more.

Pilgrimage to Auschwitz to start on Wednesday
Budapest, April 28 (MTI) – Some 450 Hungarian participants in this year's March of the Living are scheduled to leave Budapest on Wednesday to remember victims of the Holocaust at the one-time Nazi death camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau (Oswiecim, Poland). MIT, Hungarian News Agency Corp., April 28, 2008. Read more.