The Center for Jewish Impact partnered with Haifa Students' Regional Council, Haifa Region Youth and Society Administration, and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Present Moving Testimony by Holocaust Survivor Lyonell Fliss in Commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. On Monday, January 24, 2023, Holocaust survivor Lyonnel Fliss shared his powerful and moving testimony with over 500 students from Israel and around the world via a special Zoom event organized by the Center for Jewish Impact in partnership with the Haifa Students' Regional Council, the Haifa Region Youth and Society Administration, and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr. Fliss, one of the last survivors of the 1941 Iasi Pogrom in Romania, known as "That Sunday," shared how, as a six-year-old child, he became an adult in a single day, seeing both the worst and best of humanity. He shared how he was saved from death three times during the pogrom and the lessons he learned about the importance of family and responsibility. "On That Sunday, good and evil showed themselves together in their most extreme forms and in the same space. The good through an unknown Romanian officer who, without reward and at the high risk of his life, saved us from death. I still find it inexplicable. I began to believe it was an Act of God, our guardian angel. The evil was the human beast in the form of the German soldier who pushed my mother down the stairs, injuring her badly, beating up my father, and threatening to shoot a child. He was the devil incarnated," Mr. Fliss recounted. Robert Singer, Chairman of the Center for Jewish Impact, emphasized the importance of keeping the legacy of the Jewish nation alive and telling the story of the heroes who survived the Holocaust. He stated, "It is our duty to keep the legacy of the Jewish nation alive and tell the story of the heroes who survived the Holocaust. Mr. Fliss's story is a case of hope, resilience, and faith – and it is the duty of each and every student hearing us to remember and embody these values." Itay Kobi, Chairman of the Haifa Students' Regional Council, said: "I learned a lot from the Holocaust. The survivors went through hell but never gave up. We should never give up. Even if it is difficult, hold on to that ray of hope and keep trying." This was the third consecutive year that the Center for Jewish Impact has collaborated with the Haifa Regional Council to remember the stories of Holocaust survivors for future generations."
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