The following excerpts were taken from the words of the Mayor of Jerusalem, Moshe Leon, at the Holocaust Martyrs ‘and Heroes’ Remembrance Day ceremony held at Safra Square on Thursday morning:

“It is customary that the recipient of a miracle does not recognize the miracle, and therefore we remind ourselves that the very privilege that we have gathered here together, free and sovereign people in our city of Jerusalem, is a miracle.
A miracle made up of countless small, private miracles that occurred in the previous generations of our families.

In my family, for example, the miracle occurred in 1935.

From Salonika, Greece, my grandfather, Moshe, saw the Nazis taking power in Germany two years earlier.

Grandfather understood the sense of survival that was to come, and he took responsibility for his fate.

He took his son, a year-and-a-half-year-old boy, Avi Shalom Leon, and came to Israel to build our family here in the land of Chamdat Avot.

But in the face of the miracles that are why we are here today, there are many of our brothers and sisters who did not happen miracle.

In four months, it will be 77 years since that bitter summer day in the month of Av, 5702, when 200 children of Janusz Korczak’s orphanage in Warsaw went to the train to Treblinka.

Arriving in quartets, led by their great educator Korczak, he held two children in his arms and marched erect to the death carriages.

If we sum up in one word what distinguished the orphanage and a school run by Korczak in the Warsaw Ghetto, that word is a responsibility.

Through revolutionary regulations, according to which the institution is run entirely by the students, Korczak and his pupils built a heartland of insanity and honor.

They made all the rules. They even set up a court to investigate violations of the laws, they maintained pride and human dignity, they did it all by themselves and themselves.

And so, they left us with an important lesson, and that there is no age in life that is too young to take responsibility.

Distinguished Guests, The reality we live in is deceptive.

We grew up in a strong, prosperous and organized Jewish state.

This situation seems to us like a natural law, but days like today are meant to remind us that for better or for better, it all depends on us.

Son, and responsibility for taking responsibility for society and the state.
It is a responsibility to manage the differences between us with mutual respect and brotherhood.

Responsibility towards the weak who needs our help. Towards the community in which we live. Towards family and friends, and toward ourselves.

Responsibility for everything we have established here. Because without our responsibility, there is no guarantee and there is no point to the entire enterprise.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)