Today, we honor the memories of those we lost and the strength of those we’ve had the fortune to meet. Each candle that was once extinguished prematurely, now shines a brighter light, warming the darkness of our lives.  

Today is Yom Hashoa, the Holocaust day of memorial. Tonight, we walk the paths of memories that were left for us; memories of our families, our communities, our peoplehood. We remember the love, the loss, the courage and the strength to survive. We scribe the memories into our hearts as a reminder of who we were and who we continue to be. 
Seen on the streets of New York, this woman reminds us that “you can never kill a people with hate.”

“I lived in Poland, so we were persecuted from the first day of the war. First they took us from our home, then they put us in a ghetto, then they made us march, then they sent us to the camps. I was separated from everyone, but my brother later told me that my father froze to death. But I have children now, and grandchildren, and great grandchildren– a great big family, all of them educated. Look at everything that came from just one person who escaped. Just goes to show that you can never kill a people with hate. There will always be someone left to carry on.” – Humans of New York, Sept 6, 2013.