Irene Adler

An adolescent, Irene Adler survived on her own in Budapest.  At one point she was rounded up and sent on a forced march out of the city, but was able to return.  Following the liberation of Budapest by the Russians in 1944, she moved to the home of her only surviving relative, an uncle.  Irene met her future husband while she was distributing sandwiches to returning camp survivors (please see Bernard Adler Interview).  She later joined Bernard in Israel where they were married in 1948 and had one son.  Irene and Bernard had a second son after their move to New York.

 

“Remembering Mother” (1984)

By Irene Adler

I. Oh how much I am thinking about you

With admiration, with love.

The years are going by, but you are always in my mind.

I never can forget you, mother.

II. From where did you take the strength?

What gave you the courage?

To love, to work, to help, to give

All your time for us, when we were in need.

III. The times were hard, there was war and

Every day was a struggle, filled with fear and hunger.

Hate surrounded us, riots and killing

From where did you take the strength mother?

IV. To stand straight, like a tree in the storm.

Give us a smile, to say a kind word.

Understand us and give a warm home.

From where did you take the strength, mother?

V. I am remembering. I see tears in your eves.

But you never complained to us

You tried to keep away the misery, the bitterness.

Oh how much did you suffer, mother?

VI. The war ended, but you never came back.

You went to Auschwitz on the train

Ended up getting killed by the enemy's hand.

But in your last hour, you were thinking of us,

What happened to your youngest children?

VII. Your teaching we remember, the kindness we practice.

What we learned from you and father,

We are believing in religion and love.

Thank you for everything, mother.

 

“Remembering My Father” (April 1984)

By Irene Adler

I

My Father looked up, his eyes were sad,

"1 am not ready to leave the village, my work is not yet done.

I am planting a tree; life has to go on, even if I am not here anymore.

The sun is shining, buds are on the trees, flowers, life is around us.

II

My Father's hand planted the tree;

The hand which talked without words,

The hand which gave a child a hug,

The hand which held the Torah Scrolls.

III

The hand which waved good-bye to me,

The hand which fed me when I was young;

The same hand planted the tree in the ground

With strength,that life continue, life must go on.

IV

My Father loved life.

He believed, only love he had.

He wanted the pear tree to grow and blossom,

Like a symbol of life, in misery and death.

V

The village he left with tears in his eyes.

The wagon door closed on him hard.

They took my Father to Auschwitz,

Where people suffered, where millions had died.

VI

My Father saw at Auschwitz a raised hand,

Which chose between death and life.

The hand which was a puppet of a monster's mind,

With no human feeling at all inside.

VII

My Father put his hand forward,

A gesture of a question, why?

But he never got an answer.

The monster's hand showed him he had to die.

VIII

My Father's life ended.

But his good deeds stayed on.

They could not kill his ideas, his religious beliefs,

Yes, my dear Father, religion and love will continue with future generations to come.

IX

As long as a human heart is beating,

As long as there are two outstretched hands,

As long as pear trees are growing,

As long as religion and love live in Man.

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Mar21

As the sun sets, marking the end of the daily fast during Ramadan, and the culmination of the Fast of Esther in the Jewish tradition, we invite you to break bread with members of different faith communities in a spirit of unity, understanding, and friendship. This unique event aims to foster a sense of togetherness, promote dialogue, and celebrate the rich tapestry of religious traditions that contribute to the mosaic of our community. A vegetarian, Kosher and Halal dinner will be served.

Please register here for Zoom:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMldu-hpzsoHdRk-Nq3UNqkiEAMqrCeVj_O

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMldu-hpzsoHdRk-Nq3UNqkiEAMqrCeVj_O

Wolf Gruner, Ph.D., discusses the subject of his book Resisters: How Ordinary Jews Fought Persecution in Hitler's Germany (Yale University Press, 2023), which features the life stories of five Jewish men and women who resisted in different ways against persecution in Nazi Germany. By discussing their courageous acts, the book demonstrates the wide range of Jewish resistance in Nazi Germany, challenges the myth of Jewish passivity and illuminates individual Jewish agency during the Holocaust.

Wolf Gruner, Ph.D., holds the Shapell-Guerin Chair in Jewish Studies and is a professor of history at the University of Southern California and founding director of the USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research. He received his Ph.D. in History from the Technical University Berlin and was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, Yad Vashem Jerusalem, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Women's Christian University Tokyo, among others. Gruner is the author of o books on the Holocaust, including Jewish Forced Labor under the Nazis: Economic Needs and Nazi Racial Aims. His 2016 prizewinning German book was published in English as The Holocaust in Bohemia and Moravia: Czech Initiatives, German Policies, Jewish Responses. He co-edited four books, including Resisting Persecution: Jews and Their Petitions during the Holocaust and New Perspectives on Kristallnacht: After 80 Years, the Nazi Pogrom in Global Comparison. He is an appointed member of the Academic Committee of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the International Advisory Board of the Journal of Genocide Research, among others.

Azeem Ibrahim's compelling lecture delves into the root causes and motivations of the harrowing Rohingya genocide, shedding light on the historical context, human rights violations, and geopolitical complexities surrounding this tragic crisis.

Azeem Ibrahim, Ph.D., is a research professor at the Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, and a director at the Center for Global Policy in Washington, D.C. Over the years, he has advised numerous world leaders on strategy and policy development. Ibrahim is also the author of the seminal books Rohingya: Inside Myanmar's Genocide (Hurst, 2016) and Radical Origins: Why We are Losing the Battle against Islamic Extremism (Pegasus, 2017). He is a columnist at Foreign Policy magazine and his writing has been published in The New York Times, Washington Post, The Times (UK), Chicago Tribune, Newsweek and many others. Outside academia, Ibrahim has been a reservist in the IV Battalion Parachute Regiment and an award-winning entrepreneur. He was ranked as a Top 100 Global Thinker by the European Social Think Tank and named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, after which he completed fellowships at Oxford and Harvard. In 2019, he received the International Association of Genocide Scholars Engaged Scholar Prize for his research on the Rohingya genocide. In 2022, Ibrahim was awarded an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth I, on the recommendation of the prime minister, for his services to foreign policy.

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