For the first time in 32 years, the March of the Living will not take place on Holocaust Remembrance Day, but the commemoration continues during the Corona pandemic.
Each year, for the past 32 years, ten thousand marchers, Jews and non-Jews, from all over the world have participated in the March of the Living that takes place on Holocaust Remembrance Day. The trip is the culmination of a multi-day educational process in Poland, during which participants experience a historic and emotional journey that concludes with a major ceremony in the Birkenau extermination camp. Each year, IDF Chief Cantor Shai Abramson leads the heart-rending ‘El Malei Rahamim prayer. This year, in light of the cancellation of the ceremony and its existence in a digital format, the March of the Living asked Chief Cantor Abramson to conduct the prayer by virtual means accompanied by the military rabbinate choir conducted by Ophir Sobol.
This year’s March of the Living has been cancelled due to the Corona virus that has spread throughout the world. In its place, the Virtual March of the Living Ceremony organized by The International March of The Living and The Miller Center for Community Protection and Resilience at Rutgers University, in partnership with the Shoah foundation, will take place on Holocaust Remembrance Day, April 21th, at 7:00 PM EST on JBS TV & March of the Living website and Facebook page.
The program will include: the President of Israel Reuven Rivlin; first-hand testimony from noted Holocaust survivors Edward Mosberg and Irving Roth; keynote address from Mehnaz Afridi: Director, Holocaust, Genocide & Interfaith Education Center at Manhattan College; addresses by: Paul S. Miller, founder of the Miller Center for Community Protection and Resilience, Rutgers University; John Farmer, Director of the Miller Center; March of the Living President, Phyllis Greenberg Heideman; Dean Renee Middleton, Dean of the School of Education, Ohio University; statements of March of the Living alumni from around the world; musical presentations by former March of the Living performers.
Music and video Credits: Composer: Cantor Moshe Stern; Musical conducting and direction: Ophir Sobol; Video Editing: Yehuda Vidavsky, Medabrim Tikshoret.