Jewish Life

The Courage to Act: Yom HaShoah – Holocaust Remembrance Day

Name: The Courage to Act: Yom HaShoah – Holocaust Remembrance Day
Start: 2026-04-13T17:00:00-07:00
End: 2026-04-13T20:00:00-07:00
Location: JCCSF

Come together to learn, honor and remember at San Francisco’s community-wide Holocaust commemoration and movie screenings presented by the JFCS Holocaust Center with the JCCSF.

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Free

Come together for San Francisco’s community-wide Holocaust Remembrance Day commemoration. We will honor survivors and those who perished in the Holocaust and carry forward the lessons of history.

The Jewish Family and Children’s Services Holocaust Center and the JCCSF, in partnership with community organizations across the Bay Area, invite you to join Holocaust survivors, musicians, spiritual care providers and civic leaders as we learn, honor and reflect together.

SCHEDULE

1:00 – 5:00 pm: Forever Remembered
A new immersive community sound installation by artist Forest Reid honoring the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust.

5:00 – 5:45 pm: Reading of the Names
Memorial name reading with San Francisco dignitaries, City Supervisors and California elected officials.

6:00 – 7:15 pm: The Courage to Act – Commemoration, Yizkor Service & Candle-lighting Ceremony

Yizkor Service and Candle-lighting Ceremony with Bay Area clergy.

7:15 – 8:00 pm: Community Reception
Connect with community over light refreshments and live music.

Before & After the Commemoration

Forever Remembered

Forever Remembered is a powerful new community memorial experience from the JFCS Holocaust Center. Created in partnership with local leaders and organizations, it honors the Jewish men, women, and children murdered during the Holocaust while strengthening how we remember and carry their stories forward.

For decades, the Holocaust Center has led the annual Reading of Names on Yom HaShoah, preserving the memory of nearly 3,000 victims whose names were gathered from descendants in the Bay Area. Forever Remembered builds on this sacred tradition, transforming it into an immersive sound installation that invites participation across generations.
Visitors will encounter a powerful space for listening, reflection, candle-lighting, and engagement with Yizkor books (memorial books) listing every name honored.

Among Neighbors: Yom HaShoah Film Screenings

Tue, Apr 14

Join us at one of two screenings of the award winning film Among Neighbors, uncovering a hidden chapter of Holocaust history in a small Polish town through survivor and witness testimony.

10:00 am – Noon: Film screening followed by Q&A with Beth Cohen, Director of Education at the JFCS Holocaust Center.

6:30 – 9:00 pm: Film screening followed by discussion with Aaron Tartakovsky, a third generation descendant of Holocaust survivors, in conversation with Congregation Emanu-El’s Rabbi Ryan Bauer.

GET FILM SCREENING TICKETS

Community Partners

American Jewish Committee (AJC), Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany in San Francisco, Consulate General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest, Israeli American Council (IAC), Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC Bay Area), Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation, San Francisco Interfaith Council, The Contemporary Jewish Museum, Jewish Federation Bay Area, Jewish Community Library, Manny’s, Repair the World, StandWithUs Northern California, Taube Philanthropies, Value Culture, Keshet for LGBTQ+ equality in Jewish life, and SF Hillel.

Participating Congregations:
Adath Israel, Am Tikvah, Anshey Sfard, Beth Sholom, Chevra Thilim, Emanu-El, Ner Tamid, Sha’ar Zahav, and Sherith Israel.

Participating Congregations

Adath Israel, Am Tikvah, Anshey Sfard, Beth Sholom, Chabad of Cole Valey, Chevra Thilim, Emanu-El, Ner Tamid, Or Shalom Jewish Community, Sherith Israel and Sha’ar Zahav.

This program is proudly supported by the Israel Engagement Fund: A JCC Association of North America Program Accelerator and the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs.

The Songs of Truth Holocaust Education Concert for schools is a joint program of Citizen Film, Contemporary Jewish Museum (The CJM) and Golden Gate Orchestra Symphony and Chorus. Support for The CJM’s Holocaust education programming is generously provided by the Jewish Community Federation & Endowment Fund, Ron Kaufman and in part by a grant from Grants for the Arts.

Thank you to our Co-Host & sponsor

Children sitting on the floor having a good time and smiling at the camera

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