OU West Coast Region Presents 60 Days for 6 Million, a Holocaust Memorial Program, Oct 22-Dec 21

09 Oct 2006

OU WEST COAST REGION PRESENTS SIXTY DAYS FOR SIX MILLION, A HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL EDUCATION PROGRAM, OCTOBER 22 TO DECEMBER 21

Rabbi Harvey Belovski, a noted London rabbi, will be speaking at eight synagogues and six schools in Southern California to kick off the Orthodox Union West Coast Region’s Sixty Days for Six Million program.

Sixty Days for Six Million is designed to memorialize the six million Jews destroyed in the Holocaust and to create a living bond between them and the contemporary generation of the Jewish people. Sixty Days for Six Million, which originated in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia to coincide with the sixty years that have elapsed since the Holocaust, commits each participant to set aside at least 15 minutes every day over a sixty-day period to study a portion of Torah in memory of a specific Holocaust victim, whose name appears on a card given to the participant. In memory of those who passed away, OU West Coast member synagogues will also distribute the book 60 Days for 60 Years: Remember the Past In Order to Build the Future, to its communities.

The program will begin on Sunday, October 22, Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan, and culminate on Thursday, December 21, during Chanukah, in conjunction with the OU’s annual West Coast Torah Convention. (The Convention’s theme is Preservation vs. Innovation, focusing on the preserving the past and creating an innovative future.)

“For many people the enormity of the Holocaust is overwhelming and most can’t identify with the number six million. Sixty Days for Six Million attempts to personalize the events of the past by linking people with individuals who did not survive the Holocaust,” declared Rabbi Alan Kalinsky, OU’s West Coast Director.

Chief Rabbi of the British Commonwealth, Dr. Jonathan Sacks, called Sixty Days for Six Million, “a wonderfully inspiring project. May your sixty days of study turn the memory of the victims of the Shoah into a blessing.”

Rabbi Belovski has a degree in mathematics from University College, Oxford and semicha (rabbinic ordination) from Gateshead Yeshiva. He also studied in Beit HaTalmud Kolel and currently serves as a rabbi of the Golders Green Synagogue in London. In addition to his rabbinic duties, Rabbi Belovski gives regular classes at synagogues across London, as well as at Ohr Somayach, the London School of Jewish Studies and the Oxford University Jewish society.

He is the author of Shem MiShmuel, a translation of the Chassidic classic, the Shabbat Siddur (prayer book) Companion, and has written for a variety of publications. His special areas of interest range from study of Midrash and contemporary halachah, to pre-marriage training for young couples.

Rabbi Belovski’s speaking schedule is as follows:

San Diego, Sunday, October 22, 7:30 p.m., Beth Jacob Congregation;

San Diego, Monday, October 23, 11:15 a.m.-12 p.m., Torah High School;

Irvine, Monday, October 23, 7:00 p.m., Beth Jacob Congregation;

North Hollywood, Tuesday, October 24, 5:45 p.m., Teichman Family Torah
Center-Emek HebrewAcademy;

Calabasas, Tuesday, October 24, 8:00 p.m., The Calabasas Shul;

Los Angeles, Wednesday, October 25, 12:15 p.m., Yeshiva High School of Los Angeles-Girl’s Division;

Beverly Hills, Wednesday, October 25, 2:00 p.m., Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy;

Los Angeles, Friday, October 27, 9:30 a.m., Shalhevet High School;

Los Angeles, Friday evening, October 27, Oneg Shabbat in a private home;

Beverly Hills, Shabbat morning, October 28, drasha (sermon), Beth Jacob Congregation;

Los Angeles, Shabbat afternoon, October 28, shiur (class), Young Israel of Century City; and,

Los Angeles, Motzei Shabbat, October 28, melave malka, private home.

For further information, or to sponsor Sixty Days for Six Million, contact Rabbi Daniel Korobkin, Director of Synagogue Services of OU’s West Coast region, at 310-229-9000, ext. 205, or at dkorobkin@ou.org.