Yom HaShoah - 2023 - Scoutmaster Minute
As a Scoutmaster for 30 years, I have the honor to close each meeting with a Scoutmaster minute. Last night, my theme was Yom HaShoah 2023. I shared with the scouts the meaning of the Holocaust Remembrance Day, how it is celebrated in Israel and how important its memorialization is to the Jewish people. I shared that my other passion is Jewish Genealogy and that over the last eight months, I have been doing a deep dive into my family I lost to the Holocaust, in preparation for this week. Last year at this time I knew of 80 family members that perished. Because of my research, I've discovered information on 210 victims of Nazi aggression. I asked my youth how many of them they thought were their age as scouts. The answer is about 10% or 24 children between 10 and 18 that died during the Holocaust. I then asked, if I could read the names of these family members. For 2 minutes the room was silent except for my reading of the names: From Busk, Latvia: