Beleaguered Los Angelenos find solace in Holocaust commemoration - courtesy of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

For longer than 500 days since Hamas massacred Israelis and abducted hostages, Jewish Los Angelenos have been plagued by anti-Zionist antagonists, amplified by mainstream media. For the Jews (and gentiles) of Los Angeles seeking to mourn the genocide which affected our people (and the entire civilized world) the most prominent public ceremony for Yom ha Shoah ("Catastrophe Day") during the business day of April 24th was presented, of all places, by Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in West Los Angeles. 

This has been a tradition which began 41-years ago, according to Dr. Leo Gordon of Surgery Group L.A.  In 1933, Jewish physicians, he explained, were among the first professions to be excluded from professional life by Germany National Socialist government. In some areas, like Munich, Jewish doctors were prohibited from treating non-Jewish patients.   

L.A.'s Cedars-Sinai Medical Center presented a Holocaust Remembrance Day commemoration on April 24, 2025

These restrictions were part of a broader wave of over 400 anti-Jewish laws and decrees between 1933 and 1939, which progressively isolated people with Jewish bloodlines from public and professional life. The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 further entrenched these exclusions, but the 1933 laws specifically targeted civil servants, lawyers, and doctors as the first occupations to be restricted.

The educational and cultural ceremony was
officiated by Rabbi Jason Weiner, executive
director of the Spiritual Care Department
 

Nazis worked and starved Jews and
other inmates to death, as revealed
in documentary film of liberation
of Bergen-Belsen Nazi Camp

Rabbi Jason Weiner, executive director of the Spiritual Care Department, provides contextual overview of this year's ceremony:

Rabbi Meir Soloveichik of Yeshiva University drew parallels
between the Nazi Holocaust and Hamas' war against Israel 

Visiting speaker, Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, of New York City, delivered a profoundly moving address exploring how Jewish resilience and renewal emerged from the ashes of the Holocaust. His speech wove together historical accounts, biblical parallels, and personal connections into a tapestry of remembrance and hope.

He recounted a remarkable moment captured by the BBC shortly after liberation: Holocaust survivors at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp conducting a Shabbat service. Despite being surrounded by death, these survivors defiantly sang Hatikvah (Israel's national anthem) and declared "Am Yisrael Chai" – the Jewish people live.

Rabbi Soloveichik connected this powerful declaration to the biblical prophecy of Ezekiel and the valley of dry bones, where God promises that the seemingly lifeless bones of exiled Israel would be revived and returned to their homeland. The survivors' singing of Hatikvah (meaning "The Hope") amidst the horrors of Bergen-Belsen embodied this prophecy in the most literal sense – those who had been reduced to "dried bones" were affirming their undying hope for return to Israel.

Liberated concentration camp inmates gather to conduct a long-forbidden prayer service

The commemoration was attended both by members of the Medical Center staff and the public.

Ceremony included a traditional candle lighting of six candles - each representing one million of the Jewish people murdered by the Nazis and their Axis collaborators.

Veteran surgeon, Dr. Leo Gordon, tells the history
of this ceremony by the hospital and how health
care professionals regard it so personally

Cantor Natan Baram of Young Israel of N. Beverly Hills (posing here with Rabbi Meir Soloveichik) led the prayer El Male Rachamim for those martyred for their Jewish identity. 

Cantor Baram explained his special inserted lyrics in this video epilogue.

Stars of David crown 2 sides of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

In America's second most Jewish populated city (particularly in view of the antisemitic persecution that has plagued college campuses and Jewish neighborhood streets) it was reassuring to find that on the day of Yom ha Shoah - the Jewish people's commemoration of the Holocaust - that the prominent sanctuary for memorializing the era of genocidal discrimination - was held in professional setting shared by all - where wearing a yarmulke or married woman's wig, is still safe and respected. 

 

As Chaplain Weiner was quoted saying "Many patients, both Jewish and non-Jewish, tell me they feel a sense of belonging here when they see the (Jewish) stars (visible atop the Medical Center) that it gives them confidence that we are driven by a higher purpose."