As the world commemorates Yom Hashoah on April 20-21, farmers from Israel’s Central Arava region have come together to donate flowers to Israel’s Holocaust survivors.
With the assistance of teen volunteers from Jewish National Fund-USA (JNF) affiliate, HaShomer HaChadash, Israel’s southern community has picked flowers for some of Israel’s 192,000 living Holocaust survivors.
“Although a beautiful gesture, this is so much more than merely giving flowers to our older generation,” said JNF Central Arava liaison Noa Zer. “When a young person looks a Holocaust survivor in the eye as they present them with flowers from the Arava, they are saying, ‘Just as this flower brings color and hope into the world, so, too, will I continue your legacy of resilience and strength—and I will ensure my children and their children’s children will know your story.’ ”
She added that “when we bring survivors flowers that were grown in one of the most arid regions of the world, it is a testimony to the human spirit just as the survivors were able to grow new lives from the ashes of the Holocaust.”
HaShomer HaChadash is a Zionist social-educational organization established in 2007 by volunteers with the goal of safeguarding the land, assisting farmers and ranchers, as well as strengthening the Jewish people’s connections to the land, Jewish values and Zionist identity.
“As the number of living Holocaust survivors grows smaller every year, there has never been a more important time to educate the next generation about our people’s struggle,” said Jewish National Fund-USA chief executive officer, Russell F. Robinson. “You just have to look at all of the hate and anti-Semitism in the world today to know that we must invest in organizations that are continuing the pioneering legacy of those who landed on Israel’s shores after surviving the horrors of the Holocaust.”
JNF-USA CEO, Russell F. Robinson, will join Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin and other speakers on April 21 at 9:30 a.m., Eastern Standard Time, for a Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony facilitated by the Ghetto Fighters’ House Museum.
The virtual event can be viewed here.