The horrific events of October 7th reminded many people of the darkest chapter in Jewish history – the Holocaust. And indeed, for the past six months, there have been as many comparisons to the Shoah as there have been critiques of those comparisons.
Of the roughly 130,000 Holocaust survivors living in Israel today, just under 10,000 reside in Jerusalem. Many of them participate in the Jerusalem Foundation’s Café Europa, which offers a physical meeting place, a wide range of social and cultural activities – concerts, lectures, memorials, workshops – and professional help in navigating the thickets of Israeli bureaucracy. We recently spent a morning at the Café Europa branch in Jerusalem’s German Colony neighborhood, where we heard all kinds of opinions about the Holocaust comparison. But the person with the strongest feelings on the matter just so happened to also be Café Europa’s oldest member – 100-year-old Walter Bingham.
Credits
The end song is Tza’ir LaNetzach (“Forever Young”) by Rami Kleinstein.
Sponsors
This episode of Israel Story is sponsored by Michael and Hedy Pufeles Milgrom, in memory of Hedy’s parents – Marc and Pearl – who were both Holocaust survivors. Marc Pufeles, from Krakow, and Pearl Herskovic Pufeles from Czechoslovakia, were beacons of hope and resilience for their daughters, Hedy and Marlene, and for their six grandchildren. They built a home steeped in Jewish values, traditions and customs, spent their time in service of others – in their synagogue and community – and helped thousands of people mark the sweet and special moments of life through Pearl’s amazing pastries and cakes.
