We will have a brief Yom HaShoah commemoration with speaker Emily Sample and light yellow candles together, then have our regular minyan at approximately 8:00 PM. Zoom link for this event and other minyan information is at http://bethemeth.org/services#wedsminyan, and more information about Yom HaShoah and the Yellow Candle program is at https://bethemeth.org/yom-hashoah. (For safety reasons, those attending in person will join in the candle-lighting meditation and an electric candle will be lit, then you are encouraged to light your candle at home.)

Speaker synopsis: 

When we remember the Holocaust on Yom HaShoah, we speak of the victims, those who perished and those who survived, and the perpetrators who targeted them with senseless violence. But as Dr. King observed, "we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." Today, 89 years after the Nazis came to power, we still condemn the inaction of the international community during their 12 year reign. How can we, now, in the spirit of remembrance, speak up for others and refuse to be a bystander in the face of violence in our community and our world? 

Speaker bio:

Emily Sample is a Programs Director at Fund for Peace, where she manages the Human Rights and Business portfolio and provides expertise to early warning/early response projects. She is currently a PhD candidate at the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University where her research investigates the nexus of gender, climate change adaption, and mass atrocity prevention.

Previously, Ms. Sample has worked as an Associate Director of Education at Holocaust Museum Houston and for the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region Ugandan National Committee on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide and Mass Atrocities. She earned her M.A. in Human Rights and Genocide Studies from Kingston University London and her B.A. from The College of William and Mary. She currently serves on the Executive Board of the International Association of Genocide Scholars and co-founded the Women's Caucus of Genocide Scholars. Her research spans peacebuilding, climate change adaption, environmental justice, gender, and mass atrocity prevention. Her most recent book “Building Peace in America” was published in August 2020.