Students set an example as they work toward ideal of peace and reconciliation

By Betsy Frank
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On April 7, United Hebrew Congregation welcomed the Terre Haute South Vigo High School STAND club, whose members commemorated the 25th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide with a program entitled, Together We Remember.

Rwandan genocide survivor Emmanuel Habimana served as the event’s main speaker. He recounted how as a 9-year-old, after witnessing his father’s murder, he escaped through the jungle with another child of similar age.

The local students who planned this moving program under the direction of THS teacher Peggy Grabowski understand their generation must work toward peace and reconciliation amongst all peoples.

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Dr. Nancy Sommers to honor her mother, Louise, as Yom HaShoah keynote speaker at UHC

By Terry Fear
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Dr. Nancy Sommers, a native of Terre Haute and former member of United Hebrew Congregation, will be keynote speaker for Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) at 7 p.m. Sunday, May 5, at UHC.

Her subject will be “My Mother’s Story — Creating Light from Darkness and Optimism out of Tragedy”. Dr. Sommers’s mother is longtime UHC member Louise Levite Sommers, a Holocaust survivor and resident of Terre Haute.

The program is sponsored by UHC and CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center.

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Celebrants fill Vestry Room for Passover seder

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A record crowd for the Terre Haute diaspora era of more than 50 people filled the Vestry Room for the annual community Passover seder Friday, April 19, at United Hebrew Congregation.

Herschel Chait led Kabbalat Shabbat in the sanctuary and, adorned in seasonal matzoh tie and kippah, shared seder-hosting duties with Temple president Betsy Frank.

Listen to audio and view photos from the event, and check out Chistina’s Best Charoses recipe!

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Rwanda survivor Emmanuel Habimana speaks at UHC, calls for resistance, resilience, respect

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As mounting instances of identity-based violence arouse memories of historic, mass atrocities, alarmed communities across the U.S. increasingly counter with public vigils and calls for peaceful resolution to conflict.

Here in Terre Haute, UHC’s sanctuary provides a welcoming venue for such events. On April 7, the 25th anniversary of the day Rwanda’s Hutu majority unleashed a genocide that took the lives of 800,000 people, mostly of the Tutsi minority, UHC welcomed survivor Emmanuel Habimana and the Terre Haute South Vigo High School STAND club to present a special program entitled #TogetherWeRemember.

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