14/04/2026
Yesterday, the three Jewish communities of Puerto Rico gathered at the Holocaust Memorial to commemorate Yom HaShoah and honor the memory of the six million Jews murdered during the Shoah.
Temple Beth Shalom was present at this solemn act of memory, unity, and responsibility, together with community leaders, representatives of Jewish youth, and public officials who accompanied the Jewish community of Puerto Rico.
We are deeply grateful for the presence of the community leaders, representatives of Puerto Rico’s Jewish youth, and public officials who joined us. In a special way, we recognize First Gentleman Dr. José Yovín Vargas, representing Governor Jenniffer González-Colón; Senator Carmelo Ríos; Representative Elinette González; former Senate President Kenneth McClintock; Rabbi Mendel Zarchi and Rabbi Levi Zarchi of the Chabad Jewish Center of Puerto Rico; attorney Diego Mendelbaum, community director of Shaare Zedeck Synagogue; Marcos Dueñas, president of Shaare Zedeck; the representatives of Puerto Rico’s Jewish youth; and our Rabbi Hernán Rustein of Temple Beth Shalom.
During the ceremony, our Rabbi Hernán shared a profound reflection on memory, responsibility, and hope:
“Kindling lights seems to be becoming more and more difficult.
Our congregation had the honor of helping with the theatrical production about Anne Frank at Bellas Artes a few weeks ago.
One of the most powerful and difficult parts of that production was that, as we arrived, we were shown N**i flags. We had to walk among characters dressed as N**i soldiers, who shined flashlights on us and shouted at us to take our places in the audience.
At that moment, I thought about our Haggadah: B’chol dor v’dor chayav adam lir’ot et atzmo k’ilu hu yatzar miMitzrayim. In every generation, each person, each Jew, must see themselves as if they personally had come out of Mitzrayim, out of Egypt, out of a narrow place.
This is a mitzvah. This is an obligation.
It is not about destiny, but about responsibility. It is in our hands and in our hearts to see ourselves this way, to feel that those ancestors we have just remembered through each of these candles are, in some way, ourselves. It is happening now.
Since the last time we gathered to remember this act until today, our community, Temple Beth Shalom, suffered an attack. Our doors were set on fire by someone whose heart was burning with hatred, intolerance, and antisemitism.
And that is how we felt: we are the ones now.
But, as our teacher Diego reminded us, this is not only about being in mourning. It is also about crossing the narrow place and walking toward freedom, as we do on Passover. And I would like to bring that meaning into Yom HaShoah as well.
Every time we mention the Shema with its blessings in our prayers, we speak about geulah, redemption. We sing Mi Chamocha. We sing about the crossing of the sea. And the blessing of geulah, the blessing of redemption, is not only for us. Redemption is for us and for the entire world.
Redemption is a moment in which the cycles of responsibility, of seeing ourselves as our ancestors, open and give way to a new time.
A time beautifully described by the Rambam:
U’vazman hahu lo yihyeh sham lo ra’av, v’lo milchamah, v’lo kin’ah, v’ta’acharut, shehatovah tiyeh mushpa’at harbeh.
In that time, there will be no hunger, no war, no envy, and no competition, because goodness will flow in great abundance.
In these difficult and narrow times, may we have the courage to mourn, to remember, and to help bring about a new time, a better time, a more perfect world.
May we have the courage, in these narrow times, to cross into a new time, a better time, a world that is, as we often say, a little more perfect.
Thank you very much to everyone, to our teacher Diego for the organization, and to all those who made the time to be here.
Please rise so that we may remember with poetry, the poetry of our people.”
He also offered the prayer El Malei Rachamim in memory of the victims of the Shoah:
“El malei rachamim,
shochein bamromim,
hamtzei menuchah nechonah
tachat kanfei haShechinah...
et nishmot shishah milyonim acheinu bnei Yisrael, she-nehergu...
Ba’al harachamim yastirem b’seter knafav l’olamim...
Adonai hu nachalatam...
v’yanuchu b’shalom al mishkavam,
v’nomar: Amen.”
At Temple Beth Shalom, we remember not only to look back at the past, but to assume responsibility for the present.
We remember to educate.
We remember to kindle light.
We remember to continue standing as a Jewish community in Puerto Rico.
Zichronam livrachah.
May their memory be a blessing.
Temple Beth Shalom
San Juan, Puerto Rico
