Witnessing Holocaust History: From Generation To Generation – A New Global Project Partnership between WE ARE HERE! Perth, Australia, HAMEC Philadelphia and World ORT, London #education
From: Eli Rabinowitz
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 2020
This special livestreamed concert event commemorates the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II and the 77th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, even as it speaks to the challenges of the current moment.
—Featuring: Mayim Bialik, Renée Fleming, Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Joel, Academy Award Winner – Adrien Brody
Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Lang Lang, Joyce DiDonato, Lea Salonga, Lauren Ambrose, NY Governor Andrew Cuomo and many others—
Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene
Sing For Hope
In partnership with:
Lang Lang International Music Foundation
Network of 135+ organizations across the globe to livestream event— in 14 countries (Australia, Belarus, Canada, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, Ukraine, the UK, and the US) and 35 US states. We hope to reach more than 100,000 people worldwide with a message of hope grounded in our history and elevated by powerful music.
Australia: WE ARE HERE Foundation
Premieres USA: Sunday June 14 at 2pm US ET (New York) and goes dark Wed 17th 2pm US ET
Australia: Monday June 15 at 4am – Eastern States (3:30am – Adelaide, 2am – WA, 6am – Auckland)
The video will be online for 72 hours after that, until Thursday 18th in Australia
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising—in which 13,000 Jews died fighting Nazi oppression in April and May 1943—was the largest single act of resistance during the Holocaust. The Uprising was the inspiration for “Zog nit keyn mol” (Yiddish: “Never Say”), also known as the“Partisan Song,”which was written in 1943 by Hirsch Glick while he was in the Vilna Ghetto. The song, which exemplifies Jewish resistance to Nazi persecution, provided the initial inspiration for the June 14 concert event, and resonates today with themes of resistance, resilience, and hope.
“We are all inspired by the example set in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The Partisan Song, which begins and ends this program, speaks to the fight for social justice and fundamental human rights,” said Bruce Ratner, Chairman of the Board at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust.
“With this program we hope to make our contribution to the tradition of resilience, resistance, and hope.” said Jack Kliger, President & CEO of the Museum of Jewish Heritage, NYC
The partial list of those featured:
Renowned actors, musicians, and civic leaders who will be featured in the event include: EGOT-winner Whoopi Goldberg; four-time Grammy Award and National Medal of Arts-winner, star soprano Renée Fleming;Grammy Hall of Famer and Tony-winner Billy Joel;world-renowned pianist Lang Lang; the iconic Dr. Ruth Westheimer; Emmy- and Tony-nominated actress Lauren Ambrose; multi-platinum, Tony-winning Broadway star Lea Salonga;multi-Grammy-winning opera star Joyce DiDonato; award-winning actress Mayim Bialik; acclaimed soprano and curator Julia Bullock; conductor and pianist Christian Reif; Broadway actor and Lucille Lortel-winner Steven Skybell; multi-Grammy-winning mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard; internationally renowned baritone Lester Lynch; Broadway star Jelani Remy; award-winning comedienne Jackie Hoffman; Broadway veteran and international opera singer Elmore James; beloved klezmer singer Daniel Kahn; 2020 Grammy-winner John Brancy; pianist and NPR From The Top host Peter Dugan; Congregation Rodeph Sholom Cantor Rebecca Garfein; Yiddish singer Sasha Lurje; celebrated Yiddish theater performer Dani Marcus; Yiddish Fiddler star Rachel Zatcoff; Congregation Rodeph Sholom organist J. David Williams; New York City Opera and Yiddish theater performer Glenn Seven Allen; accordionist and composer Patrick Farrell; internationally recognized soprano Jennifer Zetlan; renowned operatic and new music interpreter Blythe Gaissert; pianist and conductor Gerald Steichen; pianist and musical director Thomas Bagwell; National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene Artistic Director Zalmen Mlotek; and acclaimed sopranos and Sing for Hope Co-Founders Monica Yunus and Camille Zamora. A special feature of the program will be the world premiere of a new work by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Corigliano based on a text by Kitty O’Meara, to be performed by Ms. Fleming.
The Ark Centre MelbourneElder Shane & Rabbi GabiBarbara Miller & Federal Minister Ken WyattWith Viv Parry
Maroopna VIC, Australia 2019
Uncle Boydie, Maroopna VIC
London 2019 – World ORT
With Shoshana, Daniel & Edwin
Johannesburg – ORT SA
Marcelle & Ariella
The Together Plan 2019
With Debra Brunner & Michael Mail in London
Birzh Lithuania 2019
Benny RabinowitzAldone Shapiro & Emanuelis Zingeris MP at Birzh commemorationAmbassadors to Lithuania
Kedainiai, Lithuania 2019
Keidaner descendants weekend at cemetery with Laima ArdavicieneKedainiai Students
Israel 2019
Group at Yad Vashem
Belarus 2019
The welcome committee to Novogrudok – Tamara & Olga Nance Adler, Aron Bell- the last of the original Bielski with wife HenrykaJerusalem Forest, Naliboki
IAJGS Conference in Cleveland 2019
With Saul Issroff, Roy Ogus & Henry Blumberg – all ex SA
South Africa
King David Victory Park, South Africa
Zog Nit Keynmol on Yom Hashoah 2020
Zog Nit Keynmol on Yom Hashoah 2020
South Africa – Footage from SAJBD Facebook Live Stream with thanks
At Perth Modern School at Kristallnacht Commemoration on 10 November 2019 The joint choir of Ellenbrook Secondary College and Carmel High School The World Premiere performance at Ellenbrook Secondary
Commencing tonight, on 20 April 2020, and continuing tomorrow, on the 21st, corresponding to the 27th day of Nisan, the State of Israel and many Jews around the globe, commemorate the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust, as well as the heroism of survivors, and Jewish Partisans and rescuers.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and global lockdown, regular ceremonies will not be held.
We have compiled this YouTube highlights video to give you a perspective of why the the Partisans’ Song is so integral to a meaningful commemoration:
Educators and students are welcome to download a functional powerpoint presentation (1.8gb) that matches this video:
I can also run an online ZOOM presentation for your school or organisation. Please contact me at eli@elirab.com to arrange this. There is no charge for this or the accompanying lesson plans and films.
Here is a pdf of the List of Slides on my presentation:
Yom Hazikaron laShoah ve-laG’vurah or Holocaust Remembrance Day.
In Israel, flags are lowered to half-mast, there is no public entertainment; ceremonies are held, and a siren at 10:00 signals the start of two minutes of silence.
The ceremonies held, usually conclude with Zog Nit Keynmol, the Partisans’ Song and Hatikvah.
“Zog nit keyn mol” (Never Say; Yiddish: זאָג ניט קיין מאָל, [zɔg nit kɛjn mɔl]) or “Partizaner lid” (Partisan Song) is a Yiddish song considered one of the chief anthems of the Holocaust survivors and is sung in memorial services around the world.
The lyrics of the song were written in 1943 by Hirsh Glick, a young Jewish inmate of the Vilna Ghetto. The title means “Never Say”, and derives from the first line of the song. Glick’s lyrics were set to music from a pre-war Soviet song written by Pokrass brothers, Dmitri and Daniel, “Терская походная” (Terek Cossacks’ March Song), also known as “То не тучи – грозовые облака” (Those aren’t clouds but thunderclouds), originally from the 1937 film I, Son of Working People (story by Valentin Kataev).
Here are new videos of students singing Zog Nit Keynmol that reached me in the last ten days.
Melbourne Yom Hashoah Holocaust Commemoration in April:
Resistance
The background and context
The ‘Partisans’ Song’ – Zog Nit Keynmol–written by Hirsch Glik, 22, in the Vilna Ghetto in 1943 is one of the most powerful songs of resistance and defiance ever written.
While Hitler boasted that his Reich would endure for a thousand years, it is the Jewish people who resisted the forces of hatred and have endured, not the murderous Third Reich, which lasted twelve years.
Today, 75 years on, long after the demise of Hitler’s murderous regime, the partisans’ song is now sung worldwide to mark the Jewish spirit of resistance.
(Michael Cohen, Melbourne)
Melbourne Yom Hashoah – Zog Nit Keynmol
Melbourne Yom Hashoah – Zog Nit Keynmol
Commemoration April 2018 Using video footage from The Partisans’ Song Project
Zog nit keyn mol, az du geyst dem letstn veg,
khotsh himlen blayene farshteln bloye teg.
kumen vet nokh undzer oysgebenkte sho,
s’vet a poyk ton undzer trot: mir zaynen do!
Fun grinem palmenland biz vaysn land fun shney,
mir kumen on mit undzer payn, mit undzer vey,
un vu gefaln iz a shprits fun undzer blut,
shprotsn vet dort undzer gvure, undzer mut!S
s’vet di morgnzun bagildn undz dem haynt,
un der nekhtn vet farshvindn mit dem faynt,
nor oyb farzamen vet di zun in der kayor –
vi a parol zol geyn dos lid fun dor tsu dor.
Dos lid geshribn iz mit blut, un nit mit blay,
s’iz nit keyn lidl fun a foygl oyf der fray,
dos hot a folk tsvishn falndike vent
dos lid gezungen mit naganes in di hent.
To zog nit keyn mol, az du geyst dem letstn veg,
khotsh himlen blayene farshteln bloye teg.
kumen vet nokh undzer oysgebenkte sho –
es vet a poyk ton undzer trot: mir zaynen do!
2 & 3
Schools are now recording the song on their travels:
JDS 8th Graders from Seattle WA sang the Partisans’ Song while visiting Yad Vashem and Masada in Israel:
A Project For Your School We are seeking students who will recite or sing the Partisans’ Song in their home tongue, or in a language they have learnt. Please make a video, which can be as cre…