I took this photo before I understood how much it would come to mean to me.

Let me explain.

Last year I visited Yad Vahsem with my brother. The final exhibit at Yad Vashem is the Hall of Names. If you’ve ever been to the Hall of Names or just to Yad Vashem in general, we share an overwhelming experience. After a moment of taking it all in, I turned around and saw my big brother standing off to the side. My brother has always been a role model for me. Someone who kept his composure, who stood tall, who stood up for others and spoke his mind. When I turned around that day, I did not see that strong man. In a moment of vaunerablility, I saw someone I did not recognize. His shoulders drooped and his head hung in his hand. My big brother who I had only seen cry once before in my life, was completely broken. He stood and he sobbed. I crept up next to him and put my arm around his shoulder. As I felt his rib cage cave in and out, I knew we had both just experienced something that would change our worldview forever. We had always heard about the Holocaust as if it were something that happened hundreds of years ago, to people who were not like us. At Yad Vashem, they show you that it was recent. It happened 70 years ago. Less than 100. They show you that the people who it happened to were people just like us. People who had families just like us. Who had friends and co-workers just like us. People who were part of a community, just like we are. People who had done no wrong except being a Jew. The Holocaust is the most famous genocide, but this didn’t just happen to us Jews. It happened in Rwanda, it happened in Cambodia, it happened in Armenia. Things like it continue to happen TODAY in many places around the world. On this day of rememberance, I urge you to take a moment and put yourself in someone else’s shoes and try to understand what some people go through and have been through. Then think about a small way to make positive change in your own community. There are injustices happening all over the world right now on many different levels. We have to work together to recognize these incidents and speak out against them. As liberator Alan Moskin said recently “Don’t be a bystander, be an upstander.” Open your eyes, notice what’s wrong, and stand up for what you think is right.