Words and Light

© 2011 by The York Dispatch. Holding Temple Beth Israel's Holocaust Torah scroll, Elliott Weinstein waits in the back of the sanctuary before bringing it before the congregation at the beginning of the Yom HaShoah service on Sunday, May 1, 2011, at Temple Beth Israel. The Torah scroll, which dates back to the mid-18th century, is one of about 1,500 scrolls that were saved from the Nazis' destruction during World War II. Weinstein was president of the congregation's board 20 years ago when he and Rabbi Kenneth Cohen acquired one of the Holocaust scrolls via the Czech Memorial Scrolls Trust.

© 2011 by The York Dispatch. Holocaust survivor John Freund, who now resides in Toronoto, speaks to the congregation during the Yom HaShoah service on Sunday, May 1, 2011, at Temple Beth Israel. Freund said 1,000 Jews shared his hometown of Pisek in former Czechoslovakia; following the Holocaust, only 40 of the 1,000 were still alive. Temple Beth Israel's Holocaust scroll also hails from Pisek.

© 2011 by The York Dispatch. Helen Zell of Spring Garden Township lights one of the candles during the Yom HaShoah service on Sunday, May 1, 2011.

© 2011 by The York Dispatch. Mitchell Grossman of Spring Garden Township reads the Mourners' Kaddish with the rest of the congregation during the Yom HaShoah service on Sunday, May 1, 2011, at Temple Beth Israel. The Mourners' Kaddish is a part of the Jewish prayer service that, despite being referred to as a prayer for the dead, does not mention the dead and instead praises God.

© 2011 by The York Dispatch. Arlene Domue of Spring Garden Township points out a few features of Temple Beth Israel's Holocaust Torah scroll after the conclusion of the Yom HaShoah service on Sunday, May 1, 2011, at Temple Beth Israel.