Home

The Charism of Sion

The Family of Sion

Our History

News

Links

Over 40 people attended a inter-faith service at St James Norland Church in Notting Hill organized by the Sion Centre for Dialogue and Encounter to mark Holocaust Memorial Day. In keeping with this year's theme "One Person Can Make a Difference" we focused on the lives of eight individuals who had made courageous decisions to help others, some during or after the Shoah (Holocaust), others at the time of the massacre in Rwanda. While images of these heroic people were projected onto a screen, young people from St James' youth group read a short account of the actions of each one.

Our speaker Rabbi Chaim Weiner gave a talk on Making Moral Choices and used the weekly parashah reading of the story of Moses to illustrate his point that the courageous person often treads a lonely path when he or she is faced with making a moral decision.

Our thoughts, of course, were still directed to those whose lives were lost and so in their memory 6 candles were lit by members of other faiths and Christian denominations. We remembered the 6 million Jews who perished as well as the gypsies, homosexuals and communists who were also killed. We remembered too those who have died in other genocides, for example the Armenians, Rwandans and Kosovans.

As the aim of the day is to help create a climate when such atrocities will not happen again, we listened to the Statement of Commitment (used in national and local events throughout the UK) read by students from Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School in Notting Hill. Afterwards everyone was invited to sign the Statement pledging a personal commitment to contribute to a society that will promote peace, respect and justice. During the quiet moments of the service the music for Kol Nidre (from the Yom Kippur eve service) was beautifully played by a local cellist.

Later, over refreshments, everyone spoke appreciatively of the service, especially the presence and participation of so many young people, the future decision makers of our country.