July 7 Cantorial Concert in the Valley of the Communities marking 60 years since the end of World War II. Attended by some 500 people, the concert was held in cooperation with the Tel Aviv Cantorial Institute and the World Organization of Orthodox Cantors, with cantor Naftali Hershtik and under the musical management of Raymond Goldstein.

July 10 Annual memorial ceremony marking the massacre in Iasi and the Dohoroi Pogrom at the Beit Yaakov-Rabbi Zvi Guttman synagogue and community center in Haifa. The ceremony was attended by Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council Professor Szewach Weiss, Romanian Ambassador in Israel H.E. Dr. Valeria Stoica, Iasi survivor Maestro Mendi Rodan, Rabbi of the Romanian community in Israel Efraim Guttman and members of the Memorial Organization for Romanian Jewry. The event was hosted by Deputy Chairman of the community center, Eng. Baruch Traktin.

July 21 Ceremony posthumously honoring Righteous Among the Nations Fiodor Melnik (Ukraine), Yevgenya Morozova (Belarus), Steponas and Viktorija Szrelskis (Lithuania), and Stefka Stoicheva (Bulgaria). Director of the Department of the Righteous Among the Nations Dr. Mordecai Paldiel presented certificates and medals to their next of kin. The ceremony was attended by some 60 survivors and family members of the award recipients.

August 4 Annual Ceremony and assembly marking 63 years since the murder of Janusz Korczak, Stepha Vilchinska and the orphanage children. The assembly—held in cooperation with the Janusz Korczak Association in Israel—commenced with a gathering in the Forest Commemoration Polish Jewry (near Nataf), attended by JNF Chairman Yehiel Leket. In the afternoon, the participants visited Yad Vashem for a tour of the new Museum and a ceremony in Janusz Korczak Square. Addressing them were former Chairman of the Korczak Association Dr. Eliezer Marcus, Pedagogic Director of the International School of Holocaust Studies Shulamit Imber, and representative of the training department of the Mahanot Olim Youth Movement Eran Yarkoni. Wreaths were laid by former pupils of Korczak Yitzhak Perla and painter Yitzhak Balfer.

September 11 Evening in memory of Reuven Dafni z”l, in cooperation with the Rubin Academy of Music and Dance in Jerusalem, Sovlanut Movement, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pensioners’ Committee. Speeches were delivered by Israel’s fifth president Yitzhak Navon, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate Avner Shalev, Chairman of Sovlanut Movement Dr. Dan Ronen, and representative of the pensioners Tamar Eshel. The event was compèred by Michal Zmora Cohen.

September 27 Evening marking the publication of the Encyclopedia of Righteous Among the Nations—Belgium, and its presentation to the Belgian Ambassador in Israel H.E. Mr. Jean-Michel Veranneman de Watervliet. The ceremony was attended by Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate Avner Shalev, Editor-in-Chief of the Belgian volume of the Encyclopedia and Chief Historian of Yad Vashem Professor Dan Michman, and Belgian Jews living in Israel.

September 28 Annual conference of the Organization of Former Residents of Lodz and the Younger Generations, held in Tel Aviv’s Museum of Arts. The program included performances by singer Shulamit Aharon, the Mandolin Band of Rosh Ha’ayin and the Noar Haoved Vehalomed Music Group. The “Friend of the Organization” Prize was also awarded at the event.

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