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Adi Rabinowitz Bedein

This War Changed Me As A Holocaust Educator

Jewish woman chased by men and youth armed with clubs, Pograoms in Lviv, 1941, The Invasion of Germany to the Soviet Union

People ask me how I am able to teach about the Holocaust? It is emotionally difficult, no?

I was never really able to give an answer to that. Maybe because it was such a long time ago, and the pictures are in black and white then I was able to look at them- pictures of children who were abused, people who were murdered, women running away from rapists. Making it distant is what enables me to teach about it, it is like I have a mental wall between me and the events, and this is keeping me sane.

As a child, when I cried to my parents that I am afraid that the Holocaust would happen again, I was told not to worry, today we have a strong country, and an army to protect us.

Today it has changed. I will not be able to walk past these photos with the same distance.

Because today, women my age who live not far from me were kidnapped and raped by Palestinians.

Today there are little children at the age of my sons who were kidnapped and are being abused by Palestinians.

Today many families were slaughtered- erased from this earth by Palestinians.

Today my country did not protect me, nor did the army.

Today I cannot watch one footage of what is going on, because when I do I get anxious and cannot stop crying.

Today there are still too many people who do not know the difference between the truth and the lie.

All I am left with is my faith.

I pray that God will make miracles & help our people.

I thank god for protecting my sister who was walking her dogs at 6:30am on Saturday when without any siren – she saw many of rockets in the sky and ran to her neighbors house. Because her community observes Shabbat the gate of her community was closed so that terrorists didn’t bother to enter.

I thank god for not being there – my original plan was to come to my sister for that holiday.

I thank god that while my sister drove to Rehovot to my parents’ house she wasn’t hurt by the rockets fired towards her.

I thank god for protecting my niece who is a combat soldier in the navy on the Gaza border, who bravely fought many terrorists at sea.

A letter from my 7 year old to his brave cousin in the army

I thank god for protecting my brother in law who lives in a Kibbutz where terrorists penetrated and there were battles right outside his window.

I thank god for living in a country where people help one another – endless messages offering help with babysitting for mothers whose husbands were drafted, cooking for soldiers, mental help through Zoom, donations, and more…

Food that was cooked by memebers of my community for the soldiers

What more can we do?

Be protectors of the truth- fight terrorists, fight Anti-Semitism, fight Anti-Zionism.
Be true to values of compassion.

Don’t forget to believe in humanity, in ourselves! We know that we were brought to this earth to do good, this is our only purpose -this is our essence!

STAND WITH ISRAEL!

About the Author
Adi Rabinowitz Bedein is a Holocaust educator from Israel and an International lecturer, and a VIP tour guide at Yad Vashem. Adi is the founder and director of The Network for Innovative Holocaust Education with 170 members from 26 countries. Adi has a BA in Education and Political Science and a Masters in Democracy Studies. Adi dedicates her time and knowledge to Holocaust education, offering private lectures, workshops and seminars according to a unique approach `Activist Holocaust Education` that she initiated. This approach personalizes the messages that are learnt from the Holocaust and makes them relevant to our everyday life. This, in order to inspire people to act against Antisemitism and injustices all over the world. Over 1000 people from around the globle participated in Activist Holocaust Education seminars and lectures, including: Canada, US, South Africa, UK, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Faroe Islands, Kenya, Australia, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Malaysia, Indonesia and Israel.
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