Photo by Niamh Coomey Rabbi Joshua Lief addressed Temple Shalom congregants and Wheeling community members about the importance of remembering Holocaust victims, survivors and heroes at an annual HaShoah ceremony.

WHEELING –Wheeling community members gathered at Temple Shalom on Wednesday evening to remember the victims of the Holocaust and celebrate the heroes, an effort to make sure “never again.”

Several dozen people lined the pews of Temple Shalom for the annual Yom HaShoah service led by Rabbi Joshua Lief, which includes a candle lighting ceremony for those who were impacted by or killed during the Holocaust as well as those who survived and those who fought for freedom.

Lief emphasized themes of personal responsibility and the fragility of freedom during the service.

The Nazis killed more than six million Jewish people during the Holocaust as well as many people of color, people with disabilities, political opponents and prisoners of war among other groups.

Though the Holocaust ended just 80 years ago, each year we grow further away from the events, making remembering all the more crucial, Lief said.

“It makes it even more important for us to gather and remember because every year there are fewer and fewer living survivors and so it’s incumbent on the rest of us to remember what happened, to tell the story, to honor those who’ve died, to give thanks for those who survived and to appreciate all those who rose up and fought back as well,” he said.

One by one, many attendees of the Yom HaShoah service rose from their seats and walked to the front of the room where they lit a candle in honor of the individuals affected by the Holocaust that they wanted to remember.

Some spoke about grandparents, parents and other relatives they lost during the Holocaust, while some honored specific heroes and the many groups persecuted by the Nazis. Wheeling Mayor Denny Magruder lit a candle and thanked the veterans who hailed from the Ohio Valley that fought for freedom.

Others expressed fear about current events echoing the events leading up to the Holocaust.

“The current events are concerning for sure and they have echoes in the past and make us all a little more uncomfortable I think than we wish we would be. That’s not entirely bad,” Lief said. “If we’re hearing echoes of the Holocaust in the headlines of our daily news today, that should be a call to awareness and perhaps even to action.”

Lief emphasized in his speech that current threats to freedom make events like Wednesday’s service all the more important.

“There are real threats and it is scary to see freedom challenged, to see lists and registries being drawn up, to see political weaponization of the media and of commerce and of trade and of neighbors and of relationships,” Lief said during the ceremony. “It is a scary time indeed but together we, choosing to be here in this room tonight, can fulfil the prophecy of Isaiah to be a light unto the nations.”

Lief reminded attendees of the service that every individual has a personal responsibility to help maintain goodness in the world.

“So fragile is the light of freedom that it must be protected, nurtured and tended by all of us on this Yom HaShoah Ve-Hagevurah, a night of remembering the Holocaust and the acts of heroism,” Lief said in his speech. “It is our bravery and our heroism that is needed now, to stand up for the oppressed, to defend the persecuted, to realize that we are collectively responsible for the safety of all of our neighbors.”