Jerusalem Concert

We were invited to perform a concert for about 50 holocaust survivors who gather together once a month. Most of these survivors were the young children who went through the holocaust. Most of these survivors spoke, Hebrew and Russian, and few others Yiddish from growing up in Europe. Michelle and I introduced ourselves to the survivors, sharing that we are a Jew and a Christian, best friends, coming from America and Mexico to sing for them. We shared the story of how we began singing for the holocaust survivors, specifically for Rosalie Schiff, and how it has grown to be our mission to share with the survivors today that we will not forget them, we will not be silent, we will remember what they went through, and pass on this important history to the next generations. We sang songs for them in Hebrew, songs from the bible, songs that have significance for the land of Israel, a lullaby and famous song in Yiddish, and of course very national songs to Israel, like Hallelujah L'olam and Hatikvah, the national anthem. For this group of survivors, music is such a joy for them to hear, it takes them out of the pain of their past that they continually live with each day, and brings them a happiness their own words cannot describe. 

At this concert, Michelle, shared the significance of the song, "Katonti". It is a song written by the grandson of a holocaust survivor who survived by jumping off a train headed to Auschwitz. His grandfather sang from the Psalms reminded of God's amazing mercy towards him. The survivors became very emotional as we recounted the story and Michelle sang one by one to each of them.

The woman and men grabbed Michelle's hands and smiled by the warmth and love she showed each of them. One man named Yulli, cried as he heard Michelle sing to him. He spoke with her trying to share his own story. 

Many of the survivors do not want to talk about the past as it brings back painful memories, yet the music we sang opened their hearts and allowed some of them to feel the freedom to share with us. ​

Luda, a very kind woman and volunteer, helped us learn the song, "We Wish you Happiness" in Russian. She played the piano and helped us sing along to the words. Each of the survivors sang along and clapped with joy! It is a song they all know how to sing! 

Everyone had so much joy as they remembered the songs and sang along with us. When we sang Hava Nagila, just like our last concert, many of them came up to dance with Michelle!

We finished the concert with Hava Nagila, and the man pictured above on the right, held my hand tight swaying back and forth and singing his national anthem proudly. We know that singing Hatikvah brings them all pride and "hope" for the future as they now live in Israel, a land promised to them by God. 
​After the concert, many of the survivors came up to us gives us warm hugs and kisses. One man even proposed to us! It was so sweet to experience the love they showed us! It is truly life changing to spend time with these amazing people who have gone through death, but now bring life to the world!​

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