Obj. ID: 53499
Memorials  Menorah in the JCC in Rochester, NY, USA, 1992

Name of Monument

No official name

What/Who is commemorated?

Six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust

Description

The menorah is situated in the lobby of JCC, next to a window through which the Holocaust memorial in the courtyard is seen.

The menorah is made of copper pipes and contains only six branches ending with stylized hands holding candles. Instead of the central branch, stylized hands are holding the Star of David made of barbed wire, two right points of which are missing. A sprout with three leaves goes up from the Star of David. The six branches are connected by barbed wire with stylized hands. The Hebrew word "Remember" appears on the Star of David and the dates of the Second World War appear between the lower branches.

A plaque with an explanation of the menorah's symbolism is attached to its trunk. 

The menorah is surrounded by a glass fence. 

Inside the fence, a glass case is situated with the Star of David similar to the first one: it is made of barbed wire, two right points are missing, and a sprout with green leaves goes up. The central field of the star is made of stained or colored glass and bears an inscription "Remember" in Hebrew, Yiddish, and English. The wooden base of the Star of David bears the names of concentration camps and a verse from Ps. 42:5 in Hebrew and English.

In December 2023, next to the menorah was placed a temporary memorial for Yonatan Dean Haim - an Israeli soldier killed in Gaza on December 8, 2023. He was originally from Hilton NY, not far from Rochester.

Inscriptions

On the menorah:

זכור

Translation: Remember!

1939 - 1945 

Inscription on a plaque attached to the menorah:

This Menorah was created by Irving Simon, Holocaust Survivor.

The six branches symbolize the six million souls who perished
in the Holocaust. The barbed wire attaches to each of the six
branches and the two hands touching the wire symbolize the
desperation of those wanting to die. The barbed wire was always
electrified, so that those who went to the wire gave up their
lives.

There are six columns of wire holding up the Star of David.
The two hands on this piece are pointing to heaven for mercy.
The Star of David has four corners (not six) representing one
third of the Jewish people lost in the Holocaust.

The Hebrew letters in the middle of the star mean Zechor–
Remember. The leaves doing forth from the top of the Menorah
represent the offspring of the survivors – The Second Generation.

The small hands holding the Yarzeit candles represent the
one and one half million innocent Jewish children who perished
in the Holocaust.

Irving Simon
Holocaust survivor
5752 – 1992
4 – 20

On the Star of David in a glass case:

In Hebrew:

זכור

In Yiddish: 

געדענק

In English:

Remember
six million

On the wooden base of the Star of David in a glass case:

In Latin characters:

Sobibor. Srjmiste, Ravensbruck. Bergen-Belsen. Treblinka. Dachau. Gospic. Chelmno. Mauthausen. Auschwitz. Maidanek.
Sachsenhausen. Natzweiler. Mittelbau-Dora. Flossenberg. Gross-Rosen. Stutthof. Jasenovac. Neuengamme. Plaszow. Buchenwald. Belzec.

In Hebrew: Psalm 42:5 with a slightly different order of words

אלה אזכרה
ונפשי עלי אשפכה

Translation: These things I remember and pour out my soul within me.

In English: Psalm 42:5

These do I remember
and my soul is grieved.

Commissioned by

Irving Simon