Remembering Rabbi Schacter

Last week, Rabbi Herschel Schacter, who was among the liberators of Buchenwald passed away.   

You can read the New York Times obituary here.  

In this photo, Rabbi Schacter is seen leading Shavuot prayer services for survivors in the Buchenwald camp, Germany, May 18, 1945.  It is a photo that is on prominent display in the Holocaust History Museum.  Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev said, “For many Holocaust survivors, especially in the days and months and years immediately following their liberation from the camps, Rabbi Schacter was a beacon of hope, a living embodiment that they were not alone in the world.  He worked tirelessly on their behalf, and for many, became their parent, their brother, their friend.” 

Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council, referred to Rabbi Schacter during President Obama's recent visit to Yad Vashem.  (Rabbi Lau's remarks begin at 12:28)