Left to right: Keynote Speakers Ina and Jack Polak

The inspiring saga of Holocaust survivors Jack Polak, 100 and wife of 67 years, Ina, 90 , was viewed by a capacity audience at the Annual Westchester Countywide Holocaust Commemoration, Keeping the Memory Alive: Generation to Generation, sponsored by Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center (HHREC) and Westchester Jewish Council (WJC) at Scarsdale Synagogue Temples Tremont and Emanu-El (SSTTE), on Sunday April 7, as well as remembering the over six million shoah victims brutally murdered by the Nazis. SSTTE Rabbi Jeffrey Brown opened the program by citing the precepts of the sh’ma prayer , “ ‘ Thou shalt teach it diligently to thy children.’…. Our remembrance is not without purpose, for it is through the act of remembering and teaching our children how to remember that we become reacquainted with the wisdom that our martyrs and ancestors bequeathed to us, in order that we may bring a greater sense of justice and freedom into the world. ”

WJC President Ron Burton announced  elected officials attending including New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson; Assemblyman David Buchwald; Congressman Eliot Engel; Scarsdale Mayor Miriam Levitt Flisser; County Clerk Tim Idoni; Westchester Board of Legislators Chairman Ken Jenkins; County Executive Rob Astorino Chief of Staff George Oros; Assemblywoman Amy Paulin; White Plains Mayor Thomas Roach; Westchester County Legislator Bill Ryan; Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano and New York State Senator Andrea Stewart- Cousins.

HHREC Director Millie Jasper (left) and HHREC Chairperson David A. Alpert

Burton compared imparting knowledge of the Holocaust with the Four Sons depicted in the Passover Haggadah. “The chochom (Wise One) represents Zach, my 9-year old son who asks, ‘Could this ever happen again?’ Rasha, the Evil Son is the Holocaust Denier. We answer him forcefully, ‘Yes, it did—and must never happen again.’”

Keynote Speakers Jack and Ina Polak outlined six lessons: “1) Don’t discriminate; 2) Do not generalize; 3) Don’t be a bystander; 4) Work for peace; 5) Enjoy the simple things in life; 6) We are living in a wonderful country and need to work together to make a better world.

This can only be achieved if people learn the lessons of the Holocaust.

Engel warned that in Europe “anti-Semitism is rearing its ugly head. United Nations Resolutions condemn Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East. As comfortable as we are in America, anti-Semitism is just under the surface. That’s why I joined the Foreign Affairs Committee to try to make Israel stronger.”

Sunlight brightly streamed through the top SSTTE Sanctuary windows during the singing of The Partisan Song, seemingly symbolizing Rays of Hope.

Left to right: County Clerk Tim Idoni; Scarsdale Mayor Miriam Flisser; NYS Senate Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins; White Plains Mayor Thomas Roach; Assemblyman David Buchwald; Westchester County Legislator Bill Ryan; Assemblywoman Amy Paulin; County Executive Chief of Staff George Oros.