This past Saturday, March 22, our Jewish Federation brought the community came together for our Seventh Annual Every Person Has a Name – our 25-hour Holocaust Commemoration and Vigil, supported once again by the City of Pasadena (and the steps of Pasadena City Hall).

As we have done in the recent past, we livestreamed the entire event (check out the Commemoration Ceremony) so those who were not able to attend in-person were able to attend and participate as well.

Our event began with our commemoration ceremony that featured remarks from:

* Jason Moss, Executive Director, Jewish Federation
* Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo
* Congresswoman Judy Chu
* Brendan Hidalgo, Assistant Field Deputy for LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger
* State Senators Susan Rubio and Sasha Renée Pérez
* Assemblymember John Harabedian
* Robin Toma, Executive Director, LA County Commission on Human Relations

And we were so moved by Senator Pérez’ remarks, we wanted to share them with you.

The ceremony also included a powerful performance of Eili Eili, by Raina Markham (and two musician friends), Cantor Ruth Berman Harris (Pasadena Jewish Temple & Center) singing Lechol Ish Yesh Shem (Every Person Has a Name), Rabbi Ralph Resnick (Temple Ami Shalom) shared an important perspective and lead us in the Mourner’s Kaddish, and Jason Moss concluded the ceremony by offering some closing remarks.

Immediately following the ceremony, Congresswoman Chu, Mayor Gordo, Senator Pérez and Robin Toma started the name reading. Over the course of the next 24 hours, more than 150 community members read the names of well over 8,500 Jews, along with countless family members our name readers were remembering, who were murdered during the Holocaust. It is important to note that even with this being our 7^th year holding this commemoration, we have still not yet read the names of 1% of the total number of Jews that were murdered during the Holocaust.

This year’s Holocaust exhibition, Anne Frank – A History for Today, was provided by Anne Frank LA, a local nonprofit that creates and presents innovative, educational, and cultural programs and community events that further the legacy of Anne Frank. This is the same exhibition they use to train high school students as docents. In fact, there were 4 teen docents on Saturday and Sunday providing additional information about the exhibit.

Thank you to everyone who attended and participated in this event. Together, we made sure that we remembered not only the people's names that we read, but also the people whose names did not get read. We helped keep their memory alive.