Our survivors come first

On International Holocaust Memorial Day, January 27, we read the usual heartbreaking articles about the poverty of many of our survivors and the grim statistics that on average, 40 pass away each day. And on April 12, our own Yom Hashoah, we will read the same message about the many (now numbering some 2,400 fewer than as recently as the end of January) who don’t have money for medical treatment, nursing care or even food, and who disgracefully live under a government that has failed in too many cases to allocate the money owed them.

I humbly suggest that Yad Vashem honor the biblical (and moral) imperative of giving part of our income to charity, in this case Holocaust survivors. This institution, the recipient of incredibly generous gifts from benefactors and foundations, is an amazingly impressive monument of stone and glass and marble to the millions who died in the Shoah, but the few thousands who remain a precious living testimony are not visited by the world’s dignitaries, for whom Yad Vashem is their first stop.

Over the years, funded by many of the philanthropic foundations that donate to Yad Vashem, thousands of academics worldwide have participated in long-term seminars, receiving an intensive educational experience about the Holocaust. At a time when we are seeing an alarming resurgence of antisemitism, we have not witnessed much protest by those academics from Europe who, despite their incredible educational experience, remain deafeningly silent.

A fraction of that money could make it possible for our Holocaust survivors to live out their remaining years in comfort and dignity. I have read that each Friday, Yad Vashem offers tours (probably guided by unpaid volunteers) at NIS 32 per person. Donating this entrance fee to survivors could be a start. ROBERTA CHESTER Jerusalem