TheJewishStar.com
Honest Reporting • Torah-True
April 17-23, 2026
30 Nissan 5786 Tazria-Metzora Vol. 25, No. 11 Reach the Star: Editor@TheJewishStar.com 516-622-7461 x291
‘Zachor’ and ‘never again’ With memory comes responsibility My grandfather did not survive so we would simply ‘remember’ but so that we’d live: as Jews, with faith, dignity, responsibility. Dana Frenkel delivered this address at the Greater Five Towns Community Yom Hashoah Commemoration on Monday night at Congregation Beth Sholom in Lawrence. Frenkel, of Woodmere, co-chairs the event with Nathaniel Rogoff.
DANA FRENKEL Woodmere
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A “student ambassador” lit one of six candles.
Photos by Ed Weintrob, The Jewish Star
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e have just emerged from Pesach, from the story that defines us as a people. It is a story we are commanded not merely to tell, but to live: “Bekal dor vedur hayev adam lirot et atzmo k’ilu hu yatza mimitzrayim (in every generation, a person must see himself as if he had come out of Egypt).” But there is another command that runs throughout the Torah, repeated again and again: “zachor (remember).” In Judaism, remembering is never passive. It is not simply recalling the past, it is allowing the past to shape the present and obligate the future. That is why the Torah commands not only what to remember but how — to see ourselves as if we were there, to feel, to internalize, and to carry that memory forward into the way we live our lives. And that is why, alongside zachor, there is another command — sharper and more demanding: “Lo ta’amod al dam re’echa (Do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor).” Because true remembrance cannot remain in the realm of thought or emotion alone; it must lead to responsibility and action. he Shoah was not only a tragedy of hatred, it was a tragedy of indifference. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks taught that the opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference. Evil flourishes not only through those who perSee Yom Hashoah on page 2
The Schanzer brothers — survivors Henry and Bernard — delivered the keynote address and lit two of the six candles at the Five Towns Yom Hashoah commemoration. Next week’s Star will report on their presentation.