"Thank you, God, for helping me get out of hell'

 

Dozens of notes of Holocaust survivors living in the United States were placed this week at the Kotel Wall in Jerusalem through an initiative by the World Zionist Organization and Holocaust Heroes Worldwide.

A special ceremony was held at the sacred site that survivors watched from home via Zoom. The event was attended, among others, by Tova Dorfman, vice chairman and head of the WZO's Department for Israel and the Commemoration of the Holocaust Worldwide, and Moran Alfasi, founder and executive director of Holocaust Heroes Worldwide.

The notes were collected over the past year and a half from Holocaust survivors living in Florida. Most of the survivors have never visited Israel and many have not traveled to the Jewish state in almost two years due to the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the survivors, leaving a note in the walls of the Western Wall, was a "dream come true."

"I hope the memory of the Holocaust will prevail long after we are gone," one survivor wrote in his note. "May there be world peace and peace for the Jewish people, and may future generations keep their eyes open to what is happening to make sure that something like this never happens to any other person or people."

Another survivor wrote,"Thank you, God, for helping me get out from hell alive to see the birth of our country Israel."

After the ceremony, Dorfman said, "It is a privilege to help Holocaust survivors in the Diaspora place notes and wishes at the Western Wall and share this experience with them.

"Next year will mark 80 years since the Nazis' Final Solution to annihilate the Jewish people, and when the last living Holocaust survivors among us get a chance to pray, from near or afar, in Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish state, it is a message of victory."