I clutch the wire fence
Until my fingers bleed
A wound that will not healA heart that cannot feelHoping that the horror will recede
Hoping that tomorrowWe'll all be freed
By RUSH, “Red Sector A”
This song is the story of a child surviving the horrors of a concentration camp. That child
survived; 1.5 million others were not so lucky.
In 1981 the Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs (FJMC) created a special memorial project
specifically for Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Memorial Day. It commissioned a yahrzeit candle of
yellow wax, set in a glass with a barbed-wire Star of David logo, reminiscent of the armbands
Jews were forced to wear during the Shoah. Yom HaShoah is observed on the 27th day of Nisan,
coinciding with the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camps. We light
this yellow candle to remember the six million souls lost. We light this yellow candle in
gratitude that our own children have never known firsthand of these horrors. We light this
yellow candle to show the world that we remember, and so should they.
This year the FJMC has set a goal to light 1,000,000 yellow candles. We ask that you take the
Yellow Candle Pledge, to light the yellow candle the evening of Wednesday, April 15. Let us
know that you will be lighting the candle by responding to this e-mail. We’ll periodically let you
know how many are really participating.
Be sure to pick up your yellow candle in the synagogue lobby or main office. Please join us.
With you, we’ll make a million.
Erik Schwartz
President Midway Men’s Club