Holocaust Survivors and Families Celebrate Soul Music at Yad Vashem

The Fellowship  |  August 26, 2019

During last week’s annual “Mashiv Haruach” concert, musicians played Jewish soul music at Yad Vashem to bring back to life Jewish culture that the Nazis tried to destroy.

For many survivors of the Holocaust, it was music that helped them get through the pain and horrors that they witnessed.

This week, Yad Vashem hosted the 13th annual “Mashiv Haruach” concert of Jewish soul music, which took place at the Holocaust museum’s Warsaw Ghetto Square.

Over a thousand Holocaust survivors, members of their families and Yad Vashem supporters filled the beautifully lit plaza, enjoying classic Klezmer pieces played by 19 veteran and novice Klezmer musicians from Israel and around the world.

A mixture of clarinets, accordions, saxophones, bandoneon and percussive ones were just some of the instruments that attendees were able to listen to during the concert. This light and sound extravaganza was the finale for students of the “Clarinet and Klezmer in Jerusalem” international masterclass, under the musical direction of Hanan Bar-Sela.

“Every year, the artist classes culminate at Yad Vashem, with a festive performance in honor of the Klezmer musicians who were murdered during the Holocaust – some of whom are immortalized in the Pages of Testimony stored in Yad Vashem’s Hall of Names,” explained Yad Vashem spokesman Simmy Allen.