Yom HaShoah / Yellow CandleTM
Torch Award Winners
Educate and stimulate your community and club leaders with program ideas. For more than nineteen (19) years, the Torch Awards competition has provided an avenue for FJMC recognition of excellence in club programming. Many of the central FJMC programs such as the Yom HaShoah Yellow CandleTM program, Build A Pair, and Keruv, began as original and creative club programs which won Torch Awards. Clubs have the opportunity to learn from and adapt outstanding programs which have been successfully done by other clubs.
Here are previous Yom HaShoah / Yellow CandleTM Torch Award Winners. To view the Torch Award Winners in all categories, please click here.
Placement: Gold
Year of the Award: 2019
Club Name: Beth Shalom Men’s Club - Clearwater, FL (1328)
Program Name: Jewish Film Festival Yom Hashoah Remembrance Program
Contact: Blake Lenett, blake.lenett@verizon.net
Category: Yom HaShoah / Yellow CandleTM
The goal of this program was to bring the Jewish community together by collaborating with the local Jewish Film Festival in a Holocaust Remembrance program. All attendees received an FJMC Yellow CandleTM and were encouraged to light their candle in observance of Yom Hashoah. The program consisted of six elements: 1) Distribution of Yellow Candles as attendees arrived, 2) Explanation of the Yellow CandleTM Program by the FJMC Regional VP, 3) Introduction of the Movie by the Film Festival representative, 4) Showing of Movie in an appropriate and secure venue, 5) Dessert Reception following the movie, and 6) Collection of Candle Donations to support the FJMC.
The event was co-sponsored by the Gasperilla Film Festival, the Glazer JCC, the TOP Organization, the Jewish Federation of Pinellas and Pasco Counties, and the FJMC. All Men’s Clubs and Synagogues that agreed to participate were recognized in the marketing materials and at the event. Both FJMC and MRJ Florida Region participated in the event. All attendees of the event received a Yellow CandleTM and a letter from the FJMC Regional VP explaining the program. The Yellow Candles program was also introduced to the group prior to the showing of the movie. All contributions received from the Yellow Candles were donated back to the FJMC Florida Region.
See pictures here: https://1drv.ms/f/s!All6i8Io6Jr5xFXhfKNzErubZHcl
Here are two videos. The first is a short overview (2 min). The second includes remarks from the two speakers (8 min).
https://youtu.be/IQbyclACGsE
https://youtu.be/PUX2kf5fj6c
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Placement: Bronze
Year of the Award: 2019
Club Name: Temple Beth Sholom Men’s Club - Melbourne, FL (1350)
Program Name: Say My Name: Partnering with the US Holocaust Museum
Contact: Eric Perlman, esperlman@gmail.com
Category: Yom HaShoah / Yellow CandleTM
This was an augmentation of the Yellow CandleTM Program that featured a partnership with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, through its Southeast Regional office and director Robert Tanen. Our narrative and timeline (below) describe it in detail. 
In brief, we augmented the Yellow CandleTM Program in three ways: (1) by having the names of children, who perished in the Holocaust, on every candle, (2) partnering with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum to hold an event at our synagogue, and (3) specifically devoting the funds from the program to a program where we would send our age-appropriate children to Washington, DC, to visit the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.
The event itself featured a talk by Mr Tanen about the current programs of the Museum and the dangers of antisemitism. Marketing for the program was done both by direct mail (enclosed brochure) as well as by newsletter and word of mouth. We also had the help of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in the effort. The first visit of our children to Washington, DC -- endowed by this events and associated donations -- will occur next week.
This program succeeded not only to a tremendous degree in its fundraising (see enclosed documents) but also to an unprecedented degree in bringing awareness of the Holocaust and antisemitism to our community, both within the synagogue and outside. We received tremendous support from the community at large for our program and the response was tremendous. Not only did we re-invigorate the Yellow CandleTM Program, we succeeded in endowing a fund to send students from our synagogue to Washington, DC to visit the Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the first of these trips will occur June 3-6, 2019.
This program re-established the TBS Men's Club as a leader in the Jewish community of Melbourne and within the larger Brevard County interfaith community. By partnering with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, we found a tremendous ally for our congregation in its efforts to fight antisemitism. We reinvigorated a program that, while it had been well supported by our membership for years, was in need of an injection of new thought and energy.
This program involved our men in new ways in the FJMC mission. We found new ways to engage the community in remembering the Holocaust and fighting antisemitism, and by funding a program where our children will now be able to visit the Holocaust Memorial, learn about the Holocaust and antisemitism in new ways, we have tremendously furthered the education of our youngsters.
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SUBMISSION #: TA11-006
On April 10, 2010 the Men’s Club of Congregation Etz Chaim held a candlelight vigil in observance of Yom HaShoah. 365 Yellow Candles were lit in the shul’s Holocaust Memorial Garden by nearly 150 attendees, and members of the Men’s Club remained throughout the night to guard the burning candles and remember the eleven million dead. But this night was only the culmination of a several week long project of rejuvenation of the Holocaust Memorial Garden, youth awareness, and community outreach to encourage remembrance of the Holocaust by all faiths.
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After taking a year off, we returned to the FJMC Shoah candle program. We use the candle program to further strengthen the ties between our men and our youth, and to stand as an example for our community. Our 6th grade class and their parents take a morning to prepare 700 candles for mailing to our congregation. In return for this labor, the Men’s Club underwrites their Memorial DayWeekend trip to Washington, DC and the US Holocaust Museum and Memorial. We let our congregants know that their donations for the candles help the Men’s Club continue this partnership.
New this year, we recorded a message from students reminding congregants to light their candles, thanking them for making donations (and reminding others they can contribute), as well as letting the congregants know how they are looking forward to the Washington trip with their parent, finally thanking everyone for remembering the Shoah. This recording will be automatically sent to candle recipients on the evening before Yom Hashoa. The cost of this one-time phone blast is around $25. It is hoped that this personal connection will result in more candles being lighted and more donations being sent.
The trip to Washington has always been a good source of new Men’s Club leaders, and the candle program is no different. We often target dads early on in the year to get involved with the post office part of the candle program, the insert design, printing, as well as planning the trip. Linking the proceeds of the candle project to Holocaust education has been very important to our club since the beginning of the Shoah candle project.
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With an effort to spread the issues of the Holocaust throughout the community, school children from the area were invited to submit written essays based on different annual topics dealing with the Holocaust. A panel of judges awarded prizes for each school level (elementary, middle and high school) entry. Awards were presented at the Yom Hashoah annual event. Our men's club has sponsored this event for the last two years.
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The Yom Hashoah Candle Project was instituted at Beth David since more than 15 years ago. It is our major fund raising project for each year. Since the past two years, we have changed the mode of delivery of the Yellow candles. Instead of personal delivery to the homes or residences of members, we hand these out personally to all members attending the Purim Services & Carnival. We repeat this also at the 8th day of Pesach after Yizkor is read.
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Our documentation describes how our club uniquely handles the Yom HaShoah Yellow CandleTM Program for unaffiliated Jewish organizations throughout the state of Arizona. It also describes how we get our youth involved in the program. In addition, it indicates some of the Shoah-related projects that we have implemented with the donations that we received.
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This is our Yom HaShoah Torch Award submission. I think you will find it quite interesting. Any Men's Club can put this program on, and you will be amazed at what questions you ask and more amazed with the answers to those questions.
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In recognition of the 70th Anniversary of the Kindertransport (to move Jewish children from of Nazi Germany to England), the Brotherhood – in conjunction with the Beth Israel Sisterhood – sponsored this event. John Obermeyer, a child rescued by the Kindertransport (and now living in MD) was invited to speak. A representative from the British Embassy in Washington was also invited. After a sumptuous breakfast was served by the Brotherhood to the 230 attendees, a short ceremony was held where Mr. Obermeyer and 5 Holocaust survivors came onto the bema to light Yom Hashoah Yellow Candles. This was followed by our two keynote speakers. At the end, Mr. Obermeyer played a song from a published CD which was written by his daughter in honor of his journey from Germany to England – via the Kindertransport – and eventually to the US. As attendees left, they were given an FJMC Yellow CandleTM to take home and light on Yom Hashoah. Much applause and many tears.
The event was covered by the local news media both before and after the event. There were 230 attendees.
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Realizing that the voices of the Survivors of the Holocaust soon will no longer be heard, the Men’s Club helped produce and distribute a DVD and curriculum featuring pre-B’nai Mitzvah students interviewing three Survivors and one Liberator. This DVD is a tool to teach the lessons of the Holocaust to students.
The DVD will be given to celebrants on the day of their B’nai Mitzvah and we will also provide the DVD at no cost to any schools (public and parochial) or religious institutions so they can benefit from this teaching tool. If other Men’s Clubs or synagogues wish it for mass distribution, it is available at a modest cost.
The challenge is for other Men’s Clubs and Synagogues to hear and record the voices of their Survivors, so they will be remembered.
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CBE Men's Club teamed up with the Religious School to implement a program that closely follows the FJMC Yom HaShoah Yellow Candle™ Program. CBE Men’s Club has taken the additional step of working with the religious school to institutionalize the program into the religious school curriculum. The program was revamped several years ago, and most of the hands-on work of assembling the packages are done by seventh grade students in the religious school. The up front costs are covered 100% by a congregational sponsor.
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SUBMISSION #: TA07-190b
CATEGORY: Best Holocaust Remembrance/Yom Hashoah Yellow CandleTM Program
The Yom HaShoah Yellow CandleTM Program (YCP) had always been a one-man operation: the FJMC mailed the candles to synagogue members, and the club broke even from donations. The decision to HAND DELIVER the candles introduced a fair amount of WORK and RISK, but it PAID OFF handsomely in a number of ways:
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Additional documents provided by Temple Israel:
| Hand Delivery System Guide | Yellow CandleTM Insert |
| Donation Stub | School Handout Checklist |
| Route List |
The single most galvanizing event of modern Judaism is the Holocaust and subsequent establishment of Israel. As a result, Remembrance programs are central to NSS Beth El Men’s Club calendar of events. The last two years have brought some of the most meaningful and heartfelt programs we’ve ever done. The key to it all is the Yom HaShoah Candle Program. The money we raise from that program
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No write-up provided.
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CATEGORY: Best Holocaust Remembrance/Yom Hashoah Yellow CandleTM Program
In commemoration of our synagogue’s Golden 50th Jubilee Year, and to create a distinctive fund-raising project, we have commissioned the creation of our own Sefer Haftarah which we are dedicating to the “Children of the Shoah” as an enduring and lasting liturgical legacy to them.
The program began with a Holocaust Education program designed to interest both children and adults. Then two rescued Torahs, one repaired and placed in the Aron Kodesh and the other damaged beyond repair and placed in a specifically designed cabinet in the synagogue lobby, were dedicated as Holocaust Memorials.
Club organized a tour of the new Holocaust Memorial Center (HMC) located in Farmington Hills. This was followed by a personal talk to the group by a Men’s Club member and survivor.
This program was a major memorial breakfast and activity held to commemorate the Warsaw Ghetto Resistance, including several programs held in conjunction with the major event. It was initiated to involve a cross-generational involvement and expand congregational participation.
This program used stones salvaged from the Warsaw Ghetto as a basis to build a Memorial Garden on synagogue grounds as a reminder of the Holocaust. Funds received provide an on-going educational program for students and visitors.
This program refutes the passiveness of Jewish victims, showing that there were more involved in resistance than was previously judged. It involved a series of lectures and movies that dealt with Jewish heroism.
By using the funds generated through the FJMC's Yellow CandleTM program, the Men's Club of Congregation Beth Judea was able to successfully design, fund, and build a permanent outdoor memorial garden that will serve to remind generations of those killed in the Holocaust.
The Beth Tikvah Men's Club organized a program to bring the story of the Holocaust to the children of Osceola Middle School in Okeechobee, FL. Four speakers rotated through four class sessions and presented their experiences to the 8th grade. Time for questions and answers was scheduled in each session.
The South Jersey Men's Club held a Candle Twinning Program, in which it distributes white yahrzeit candles with yellow Holocaust Memorial Candles. Persons are encouraged to light a Yellow CandleTM in memory of those killed on the same date as the passing of a loved one. By permission of the author, each bimonthly edition features an event from the years 1938-194 from the book Every Day, Remembrance Day by famed Nazi hunter, Simon Wiesenthal.
This two-part program taught adults and youth about the Holocaust as well as about the tragic conditions of survivors following the war. The program involved the showing of the Oscar-winning film, "The Long Way Home," followed a month later by a brunch with a Survivor from the film as the guest speaker. The film was also shown to the Confirmation class.
Candle donations were used to erect a Holocaust memorial in the synagogue lobby. The wall-sized sculpture is constructed from sand-blasted glass with a ray of light emanating from its dark interior. More than 300 people attended a moving unveiling ceremony, which included solemn readins of victims' names.
Beth Abraham's Men's Club sponsored a highly successful Dayton film premiere of the Oscar-winning film, "The Long Way Home." The screening was held in conjunction with an annual deli supper/raffle to raise funds for the synagogue.
The Temple Israel Men's Club distributed more than 650 Yellow Candles to congregants and raised more than $3200 to help fund their first annual Youth Mission to Washington, DC. The pre-B'nai Mitzvah class and their parents processed the candles for mailing, created posters, and participated in the community Holocaust Memorial Service. Over Memorial Day weekend, 26 students and 20 parents traveled to Washington and toured the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and other sites.
The Mishkan Tefila Brotherhood presented a Memorial Breakfast, concluding with responsive readings, remarks by the mayor, lighting of Yad Vashem Menorah candles by survivors and Yellow Candles by all others who wished, a special recitation by the cantor, and a musical portion featuring children from the Hebrew School. A survivor of Auschwitz related his story. The Brotherhood assembled an educational program booklet for distribution to the Hebrew School.
The Agudas Achim Men's Club program focused on the publication of memoirs of their Holocaust survivors, their children, and others who have been affected, and the telling of the stories to the Hebrew School students. The memoirs and photographs were included in a 136-page book that was given to students in the School, sold to congregants, and donated to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and libraries. The authors took part in a Hebrew School question-and-answer program that included lighting the Yellow CandleTM.
The Beth Shalom Men's Club expanded it Yellow CandleTM program into a further-reaching education vehicle for the congregation and the community. It was augmented by tying Yom Hashoah with Men's Club Shabbat, by bringing in a speaker on pre-Holocaust German psychology, and by working with our Holocaust Committee and library to create a week-long program. The program and exhibits were successful attractions, and the Club raised a substantial amount of money for the Temple Holocaust Memorial.
The Valley Beth Shalom Men's Club ran a Friday night service in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the camps by the Allies. It featured a candle for each of six categories – those who perished, survivors, resisters, liberators, and our future (represented by grandchildren of survivors). Each candle had a speaker – mostly eye witnesses. The talks were linked with the Sabbath prayers by commentaries and songs. The service attracted about 600 people, which was triple the usual attendance.
No write-up provided.
The Beth Shalom Men's Club used the Yom Hashoah Candle Program to start a congregational Holocaust Memorial Garden to remember those who were killed during the Holocaust.
During its annual Yom Hashoah program, the Beth El Ner Tamid Men's Club dedicated a Czechoslovakian Holocaust Torah.
Temple Beth Haverim's Men's Club observed Erev Yom Hashoah with a candle-lit Yizkor service in memory of the six million Jews who were murdered during World War II, with an Auschwitz-Birkenau survivor in attendance. A Catholic priest expressed deepest sympathies on behalf of the hearts of humanity. Representatives from the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Beit HaShoah (Museum of Tolerance) were also present, and excerpts from the film Genocide were shown. Finally, the Men's Club donated a more than 300-year old Holocaust Torah to the children of the congregation. In conjunction with this program, the Men's Club raised more than $4,500 in contributions through the Yellow CandleTM Program.
The Men's Club of Nevey Shalom used the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as the focus of it program. The entry describes how the Club conducted a year-long fund raising campaign involving the Yellow CandleTM Program, provided a tour of the Museum, and climaxed the campaign with a Men's Club Shabbat dinner and service devoted to the Museum. All proceeds – nearly $7,000 – were contributed to the Museum.
This year's Brotherhood Shabbat was unique inasmuch as it was held in conjunction with Yom Hashoah. The Mishkan Tefila Brotherhood utilized the service to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The guest speaker discussed the Warsaw Ghetto and the special significance of Polish antisemitism. Along the bimah were 50 lit FJMC Yellow Candles. A special program book which contained background information and special prayers was distributed to attendees.
More than 1,000 persons attended the Sinai Temple Men's Club's Holocaust Remembrance/Yom Hashoah program this year. The focus was the gift of a Holocaust Torah that was saved by a Men's Club member who had escaped from a Nazi concentration camp. The entry describes the program itself and related activities.
The Beth Jacob-Beth Israel Men's Club dispelled the often heard notion that only the big clubs have the capacity to present elaborate programs. Though having only 30 members, the Men's Club sponsored a nine-day Yom Hashoah program that included the distribution of candles, the presentation of an exhibit of Holocaust memorabilia, programs for children of the Religious School, special services, and a breakfast featuring Holocaust survivors.
The Ahavath Achim Men's Club joined forces with a Reformed congregation to distribute the FJMC's Yom Hashoah candle throughout the Atlanta area and to educate Jewish religious leaders about the Holocaust. The submission was well documented with photos and publicity.