Eric Edelstein

On Sunday I attended Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Memorial Day) in Cape Town to remember the 6 Million Jewish people.

This year, instead of the Paperclips method of trying to emphasise the magnitude of such a large number (6 Million is so large that it’s difficult to visualise), the speaker gave 6 names. He asked the audience to remember one of them - I decided to remember the 4th name - Freddy Pearl.

I don’t know if I’m spelling his name right!

I don’t know how old he was, (I think he was a small orphaned boy as the speaker was talking about an orphanage)

I don’t really know anything about him!

……………..all I know is that he was a victim. 

And that’s as far as it went till a few minutes ago when I read Lorelle’s recollection of what happens in Israel for Yom Hashoa - THE ENTIRE COUNTRY STANDS STILL FOR ONE MINUTE.

It’s an incredible story to read…

“I want to share a personal story.

A few days before Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Memorial Day) in Israel, I was warned that when I heard the air raid sirens I wasn’t to be afraid. I was to stop whatever I was doing and be quiet and not move for two minutes. My friends told me that all of Israel stops on that day.

I laughed. Getting an Israeli to stand still and shut up is like hoping a penny on the tracks will stop a high speed train. I just couldn’t imagine it. It’s a noisy place filled with too many people shouting loudly all the time just to be heard. Too much energy. This was something I wanted to see, but I didn’t believe I’d see it.”

Read the rest at Lorelle’s page…

And the moment I had read Lorelle’s story, I thought of ONE THING.

LETS SPEND A FEW SECONDS TO REMEMBER FREDDY PEARL.