Sign In Forgot Password

Violins of Hope

Tuesday, October 29, 2019 30 Tishrei 5780

7:00 PM - 8:30 PMCongregation Or Ami

Music has the power to heal…to transcend pain and anguish…and to bring hope. Even through humanity's darkest chapters — music persists. 

Violins of Hope comes to Congregation Or Ami in October 2019. Marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps and to honor the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and millions of other victims of the Nazis, we will learn about the history of the instruments, and hear Jewish music and culture from before and during the Holocaust come alive in our own sanctuary.

Violins of Hope is the result of restoration work by Israeli luthiers (violin makers) Amnon Weinstein and his son Avshalom who has rescued and repaired violins including one played in the Auschwitz orchestra as well as one used on the Kindertransport. Some were played by Jewish inmates in Nazi concentration camps; others belonged to the Klezmer musical culture, which was all but destroyed by the Nazis.

After painstaking restoration these violins have new life and sound, giving voice to a generation lost in the Holocaust. They restore hope, the strength of the human spirit, and the power of music. They are proof of the victory of life over death and the victory of memory over oblivion.

Violins of Hope is both a memorial to the lost culture and people and an education about the Holocaust through music and culture using a collection of violins, violas, and cellos rescued from the Holocaust and restored by. Hear about the Violins of Hope project and the history of some of the instruments – such as the violin which was thrown out of a cattle car on the way from France to Auschwitz; the violin that was buried under the snow in Holland; the violins that saved the lives of people who played in camp orchestras and others who survived to tell the story. So many stories, so much history. These instruments are a symbol of hope.

The Or Ami Center for the Jewish Arts proudly brings an introduction to the Violins of Hope project to the community with the support of the Rosenbluth Family Charitable Foundation, the Caring Community Foundation, and the Violins of Hope, Los Angeles Chapter.

We hope you will join this meaningful journey as these instruments promote a message of hope and endurance through music and have a history that must be told. We need your commitment to ensure that the voiceless do indeed have a voice and that we must “Never Forget.”

----
Click here to add an email to our newsletter mailing list!

Sorry, Registration has ended.

Share Print Save To My Calendar
Thu, March 28 2024 18 Adar II 5784