O n Monday, fighting between Israeli and Palestinian forces erupted around the Church of the Nativity complex, where Jesus Christ is believed to have been born. The fighting left one Palestinian policeman dead, and two Israeli soldiers wounded.
The day was April 8, 2002, and the day of Yom Hashoah - a Jewish holiday of remembrance to commemorate those killed in the Holocaust.
During World War II, six million Jews were offered on the altar of Nazi Germany's vanity - burned, shot, murdered. The Jewish holiday Yom Hashoah was created to commemorate the dead, and more than 50 years later, millions of Jews and Gentiles alike observe this day of mourning.
Forgoing classes, assignments and other pressing demands on their time, members of the Charlottesville and University community gathered under a tent by the Chapel to attend the annual Holocaust service and vigil, sponsored by the Greater Hillel Council.
The interfaith service was in verse, prose and song. Its purpose was to remember.
"Remembering the Holocaust is preventing something like this from ever happening again," Greater Hillel Council Vice President Emily Dunn said.
There is a distinct tendency to relegate the Holocaust to a position in the past, to leave the horror and guilt behind in the 20th century as we move into the 21st. But reminders of the Holocaust are all too prevalent today, as more and more images of carnage filter westward from the Middle East. Every day, the death toll rises.
Monday's incident in Bethlehem was only one of the latest events in an unending string of violent incidents, in an area steeped in a history of racial and religious conflicts.
Monday's interfaith service, on the other hand, was a poignant and powerful reminder of the horrifying lengths to which prejudice can go. About 20 students and locals participated in the service, taking turns reciting poems, telling stories and playing music.
"There we were, three young Jewish mothers," said first-year College student Joel Gussman, reading from a letter his grandmother wrote on her memories of the Holocaust. "And what did we discuss? Not diapers, or fashions ... but how to save our babies."
Passers-by stopped and joined the throng at the sound of first-year College student Sarah Marcus playing "Oyfin Pripetshock" on the violin.
There weren't enough chairs. There wasn't enough room in the tent. Attendees who arrived too late for a chair stood in the sun or sat on the grass to listen.
The highlight of the service was guest speaker History Prof. Gabriel Finder, who spoke on the resonance of the Holocaust on human history.
"The Nazi effort to annihilate the Jews was a paradigm, a model, for evil behavior," Finder said. "What is the significance of the term 'paradigm?' ... It does not exclude the possibility that such an event could occur in the future."
After the service, candles were lit and the vigil commenced. Participants took 20-minute shifts in order to read out the names of Holocaust victims continuously over 24 hours.
Throughout the night, one reader and one watcher stood guard over the candles and paid tribute to the dead.
"Erzabet Weisz, 1944. Josef Weisz, 1944..."
As their shifts continued, the readers invariably adopted a low drone that in no way lessened the impact of their words. The readers only spoke the names and the dates of death, but it was possible to determine when whole families had died in the repeated, tragic utterance of one last name.
Throughout the day, people stopped by the tent to pay their respects, to listen to the readers or to merely sit, head in hands, remembering those they had lost.
The service lasted from 5 p.m. on Mon., April 8, to 5 p.m. on Tues., April 9. Many of the readers were not Jewish.
"I think it's wonderful that students of so many different backgrounds and different faiths can come together to commemorate this event," third-year Commerce student Andrew Goldman said. Goldman participated in both the service and the vigil.
"I was impressed by how many students felt compelled to come to memorialize an event over 50 years old," Finder said after the inter-faith service. "There was no direct connection but a strong emotional bond."
Dunn stressed the fact that the Holocaust has significance for everyone, not only Jews.
"The University is filled with people who have such a vast impact on the community," she said. "As such, it is incredibly important that the Holocaust is remembered - that these people, as leaders, take part in something of this sort."
National Security Advisor Condeleeza Rice participated in a Washington, D.C., Yom Hashoah vigil Tuesday. She was joined by members of Congress, prominent Jews and Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel.
According to the Associated Press, Wiesel spoke on the violence in the Middle East, urging listeners to "issue a call to stop the bloodshed wherever it is being conducted."
Hillel representatives, however, were reluctant to link the vigil's importance in remembering the Holocaust to recent events in the Middle East.
"The Holocaust vigil is totally separate," Hillel director Shelby Apple said. "For Jews it has meaning irregardless of recent events. It has a special significance every year."
But Israel retains its importance in the hearts and minds of many Jews.
"In light of recent events, remembering what we lost before we gained the homeland makes us appreciate it that much more," said first-year College student Michael Sisskin, who read at the service and participated in the vigil.
Violence in the Middle East is a complex and tragic conflict, with no easy solution in sight. As the death toll mounts, observers grieve on Yom Hashoah for those who have gone before.
"The Holocaust was a tragic event," third-year College student Tiffany Clements said. "It was tragic that it was allowed to occur, and it's important to prevent it from ever happening again."
Finder expressed similar sentiments.
"This was a reminder to everyone that we will not tolerate this again if we can help it," he said. "It is sad that it was allowed to occur and important to remember."
If you sit fenced off in your apathy
If you look at the stars and yawn
If you see sufferingand don't cry out
If you don't praiseand you don't revile
Then I have created you in vain.
-Aaron Zeitlin
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