Adath Jeshurun Congregation
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Contact
    • Meet Us >
      • Clergy
      • Lay Leaders
      • Staff
    • Mission & Vision
    • Life-Cycle >
      • Life-Cycle Events
      • End of Life >
        • Adath Chesed Shel Emes Cemetery
        • Chevra Kavod Hamet
        • Yarhzeit Memorial Display
    • History
    • COVID-19: Adath Response
    • Sign Up For Emails
    • Catering & Meetings
    • Common Vocabulary
    • Employment
    • Publications & Blog >
      • Blog
  • Get Involved
    • Membership >
      • Become a Member
    • Inclusion
    • Hesed
    • Antiracism
    • Israel & Masorti
    • Keruv
    • Committees
  • Programming
    • Calendar
    • Adults
    • Makom
    • Children
    • Youth >
      • Youth Scholarship Information
    • Archives
  • Education
    • Map of Education
    • Gan Shelanu Preschool >
      • Home
      • About Us
      • Staff
      • Calendar
      • Tuition & Fees
    • Camp Mishpacha >
      • About Camp
      • Sessions
      • Registration
    • B'Yachad & Beyond
    • Talmud Torah
    • Bar & Bat Mitzvah Resources
    • TEN@Adath
  • Worship
    • Adath Live Stream
    • Shabbat & Weekday
  • Calendar
  • Ways to Give
    • L'Chaim Annual Giving
    • Donate
    • Adath Jeshurun Foundation

Why Wiesenthal and why now?

3/27/2017

 
PictureTom Dugan as Wiesenthal
By Heather Stesin

This very personal journey began in 2014 when I was invited by my parents to attend a performance of Wiesenthal while visiting them in Florida. This wasn’t just any performance; it was a moving experience and virtual awakening of an important part of my life that had been buried deep in my subconscious. 


My father, Leo Weiss of blessed memory, was a Holocaust survivor. Of course, this much I knew, but he had never really shared his story. Sitting next to him that night, it struck me that this brave, intelligent and compassionate man was a survivor of one of the biggest atrocities against humanity. And here we were sitting side by side—my dad with no blame or anger in his heart—watching a mirror of his story unfold before us.
 
My dad was from Drohobycz, Poland, a town with 30,000 Jews prior to WWII. Thanks to his father’s tailoring skills, which were valued by the Gestapo who required perfectly fitted uniforms, my grandparents and aunt were offered relative protection and safety while my father and uncle were sent to work in the labor camps. They were five of 200 people from Drohobycz who survived the war. After liberation they immigrated to Canada in 1948. And while waiting for their immigration papers, my dad actually worked for Simon Wiesenthal at the Jewish Document Center in Austria.
 
My father never spoke of the  Holocaust in my childhood home. It was just not a topic for discussion. It wasn't until he had grandchildren that my father realized it was time to speak about his experiences. And then, rather than speak of the horrors that he witnessed, he chose to explore the question of why the Holocaust happened and focus on how to prevent it from happening again. He spoke in schools, at conferences and throughout the community about respect, kindness, integrity and finding good in one another. He offered messages of hope and inspiration, teaching children, many of whom faced their own difficult life challenges, to embrace love not hate. And in turn they wrote him letters of thanks, telling Leo that if he could live through what he lived through, they felt hope for themselves.
 
Sitting in that darkened theater, shoulder to shoulder with my dad, I watched Tom Dugan as Wiesenthal bring history to life before my eyes. This was my dad’s story and this was why he felt compelled to share it; to bring justice to all who perished at the hands of the Nazis, and to bring this story forward as a memorial to them.
At one point during the performance, my dad turned to me and said, “If I didn't know better I would think that I was sitting in Simon’s office with him discussing some of the work that we were doing.” It was at that moment I felt my moral obligation and responsibility to continue to tell the story and keep these memories alive. And be the voice of my father when his voice was no longer able to do so.
 
It was after the performance that I vowed to bring this important work home to the Twin Cities. I approached JCRC of Minnesota and the Dakotas in January 2016 and am grateful that they signed on to be our co-sponsor. Together we approached the Illusion Theater who agreed to share this award-winning work with our community. A wonderful partnership was formed, and together with our incredible donors, this vision has become reality.
 
Now more than ever, the message of my father and Simon Wiesenthal needs to be heard, and I am honored that we are able to help spread the word. This award-winning piece will debut in the Twin Cities next month, directly following Yom Hashoah, at a time when revisiting history and teaching our community about tolerance and justice could not be more important.
 
On behalf of my family, and especially on behalf of my beloved father Leo, I hope you can share this incredible experience with me.

The play runs April 25 - 30 at The Illusion Theater.

Special Adath Group Rate!
Special group rate for 20 people attending the show on Tuesday, April 25 at 10 AM or Thursday, April 27 at 10 AM. If you want tickets on either of these dates, contact Jennifer Gray at jenniferg@adath.net. If we get 20 people, tickets will be just $15 per person. 

Tickets to all other shows HERE


Comments are closed.

    Who's writing? 

    Adath clergy, staff and congregants share
    ​their stories.

    Archives

    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    July 2020
    June 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015

    Categories

    All
    Books
    Catering
    Community
    D'var Torah
    Gan Shelanu Preschool
    Hanukkah
    Hazzan Joanna Dulkin
    Hesed
    Interfaith
    Israel
    Learning
    Legacy
    LGBTQ
    Love Your Neighbor
    MAZON
    Purim
    Rabbi Harold J. Kravitz
    Rabbi Weininger
    Racial Justice
    Rosh Hashanah
    Scholar In Residence
    Scholar-in-Residence
    Social Justice
    Study Group
    Women Of Adath
    Worship
    Yom Kippur
    Youth

    RSS Feed


​Adath Jeshurun Congregation
​Moe & Esther Sabes Campus
​10500 Hillside Lane West, Minnetonka, MN 55305
​
​952.545.2424 ​office@adath.net


Privacy 
​
© COPYRIGHT 2021. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Contact
    • Meet Us >
      • Clergy
      • Lay Leaders
      • Staff
    • Mission & Vision
    • Life-Cycle >
      • Life-Cycle Events
      • End of Life >
        • Adath Chesed Shel Emes Cemetery
        • Chevra Kavod Hamet
        • Yarhzeit Memorial Display
    • History
    • COVID-19: Adath Response
    • Sign Up For Emails
    • Catering & Meetings
    • Common Vocabulary
    • Employment
    • Publications & Blog >
      • Blog
  • Get Involved
    • Membership >
      • Become a Member
    • Inclusion
    • Hesed
    • Antiracism
    • Israel & Masorti
    • Keruv
    • Committees
  • Programming
    • Calendar
    • Adults
    • Makom
    • Children
    • Youth >
      • Youth Scholarship Information
    • Archives
  • Education
    • Map of Education
    • Gan Shelanu Preschool >
      • Home
      • About Us
      • Staff
      • Calendar
      • Tuition & Fees
    • Camp Mishpacha >
      • About Camp
      • Sessions
      • Registration
    • B'Yachad & Beyond
    • Talmud Torah
    • Bar & Bat Mitzvah Resources
    • TEN@Adath
  • Worship
    • Adath Live Stream
    • Shabbat & Weekday
  • Calendar
  • Ways to Give
    • L'Chaim Annual Giving
    • Donate
    • Adath Jeshurun Foundation