‘My Heart Is Filled With Warmth’
The Fellowship | December 3, 2024
“Each year on this day we light the candles to remember our beloved ones who were killed by the Nazis in the Holocaust.”
That’s Rivka, an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor, who holds a memorial every year. She says most of them perished either fighting on the frontlines or at the hands of the Nazis – and in the cruelest of ways. The Nazis rounded up most of the Jewish people in her hometown on September 16. They dug a very deep pit and pushed the most vulnerable – children, women, elderly – down to their deaths. “This was the most terrible death that people can die,” says Rivka.
Rivka, who was just a baby at the time, her mother, and siblings escaped Ukraine before the Nazis invaded. They escaped on an evacuation train heading away from the immediate fighting, and they spent two years in evacuation. When the war ended, her mother insisted that the family return to their home to learn if anyone had survived. However, no one did.
So each year in September, Rivka and her family honor each life lost. “We cherish the memory of our family and try to tell their story to keep the value of life,” says Rivka.
And today, she’s happy to hold this tradition in the Holy Land, after making aliyah (immigrating to Israel) many years ago. “Once I got here, I finally felt that I’m home… I love Israel with all my heart.”
This is why she is so grateful to The Fellowship for always cherishing life and helping her in her old age receive the necessities she needs to survive, especially now as she faces the ongoing war on Israel.
“In all this darkness, when I see that there are people like you and The Fellowship team, who really care, are interested in how we feel, and dedicate their mission to make the difference, my heart is filled with warmth and security.”
