First Hebrew Congregation

Wayback Wednesday 💙🌱

These sweet photos go back about 15 years, and wow, how time flies! Pictured above are some of our younger Jewish learning participants helping with landscaping in front of the synagogue.

There is something so special about getting your hands in the dirt 🌿 It teaches care, patience, responsibility, and the joy of helping something grow. Moments like these remind us that Jewish learning does not only happen in the classroom. It also happens through community, connection, and caring for the spaces we share together.

We love looking back on memories like this at First Hebrew Congregation 💚✨

As Yom Ha’atzmaut continues today, we are celebrating Israel’s 78th year and also looking ahead to more opportunities to gather in community.

We hope you will join us for Westchester Celebrates Israel at 78 on Sunday, April 26, as well as the Israel Day on Fifth Parade in NYC on Sunday, May 31.

Pictured above are some of our First Hebrew Congregation members participating in the Israel NYC parade in years past. These photos go as far back as 2011, and they reflect so many years of spirit, pride, and community connection.

We are grateful for the chance to celebrate together and carry these traditions forward. Mark your calendars, and stay tuned for more details.

Thank you to our First Hebrew Congregation congregants who represented us at Westchester County’s Yom Hashoah commemoration at the Garden of Remembrance in White Plains, alongside our Holocaust Torah from Kolin, Czechoslovakia.

This meaningful countywide observance brought communities together in remembrance and reflection, including a procession of Westchester’s rescued Holocaust Torahs and reflections from Holocaust survivor Joseph Gosler.

We are also grateful to Yorktown Town Council Member Sergio Esposito for taking photos and helping capture this important day.

May the memory of those who were lost always be a blessing.

As Yom HaShoah begins at sundown, we are honoring the story of former First Hebrew Congregation member Dr. Albert Genis.

Before becoming a respected dentist and congregant in Peekskill, he was Abram “Bomka” Genichowicz, a young man in Poland whose life was shattered by N**i violence. After the murder of his father and the loss of his mother and younger brother, he joined the partisan resistance. In the account preserved by his wife, Dr. Alice Genis, we glimpse both the danger he endured and the depth of grief he carried.

As we remember the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust, we also remember the survivors whose lives bore witness long after the war ended.

Our Yom HaShoah observances included Sunday’s Holocaust Remembrance Service at First Hebrew Congregation. Community members may also attend the Garden of Remembrance gathering on Tuesday, April 14 from 12:00-1:00 PM at 148 Martine Avenue in White Plains, featuring reflections from Holocaust survivor Joseph Gosler, the procession of Westchester’s rescued Holocaust Torahs, and remarks from County Executive Ken Jenkins. This year, attendees are also invited to bring their own shofar for a countywide community shofar gathering.

Yellow candles to light at home for Yom HaShoah are available in the FHC office through April 23.

Source: Peekskill’s Jewish Community in the 1900s by John Curran, pp. 147-148.