Remembering Every Day

“They survived and gave us a future. We are here because of them,” explains Rabbi Tzvi Tauby. “Their sacrifices affect our lives every day.”

Communities in Israel and around the world are commemorating the deaths of six million Jews on Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. But for the steadily dwindling generation who survived those horrific years, Holocaust Remembrance is a daily experience.

As co-director of Ivolunteer, a New York-based visitation program for Holocaust survivors, Tauby insists that Holocaust survivors’ needs, emotional and physical, must be met regularly. His organization matches volunteers with homebound survivors for companionship and support.

Simon Gossel lives in a comfortable apartment in New York City. The 88-year old, originally from Emden, Germany, says that his weekly visits with Jeremy “bring fresh ideas into my little world.” The two study works of Jewish philosophy and discuss current events. They also talk about their college experiences. Jeremy is currently a student at Yeshiva University: Gossel graduated from the same institution in 1962.

Gossel’s experiences during the Nazi regime (he survived five concentration camps including Auschwitz) affect everything he does. “I was in the real stuff,” he says. “I am a survivor. Today’s commemoration does not make too much of an impression on me, as we combine our remembrance with Tisha Ba’av,” (the solemn fast day on which the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem and other devastation in Jewish history is commemorated).