I have a few more things to share today. Today is the UN’s Holocaust Remembrance Day. My friend Tamara shared this link on Facebook that described a few Google employees’ efforts to work with the Israeli organization, Yad Vashem, to bring Holocaust related photographs and documents online for people to search.

It is a resource that allows people to find photos, relatives and information about Holocaust victims, and I thought it was interesting enough to blog about considering I’m Jewish and I’m sure I had many relatives who perished in the Holocaust. Unfortunately their names have been lost to us throughout the years as far as I know, so it’d take a enormous amount of research to be able to look any of my great-great-aunts and -uncles up through this resource. Really fascinating though if you are a bit more knowledgeable about your family tree!

Quite apropos, last night I found this amazing quote by famous Holocaust diarist, Anne Frank, the teenage girl who taught us to see beauty and life despite being faced with fear.

found at her white sunrise

What an amazing quote! Anne Frank was an incredible person. She was faced with a horrible situation, lived in cramped quarters with her family & others who were also hiding from the Nazis — and even so she still wrote about regular every day life with her family. She made it sound almost normal despite the fear that her family was feeling wondering every day if they would be captured and taken by the Germans. To think of this quote from her perspective gives you a fresh way of considering things. Even if life is tough, you can still find happiness around you.

from Shunit Designs on Etsy – you must check out her shop, she has so many beautiful things!

I’ve been wanting to light Shabbat candles again recently. While I am not very religious, we do send Zachary to preschool at a synagogue and he celebrates Shabbat with his classmates every Friday. Even if we aren’t very traditional, I’d still like to light candles each week to start our own traditions and reinforce the concepts that Z learns in school, and have been searching for a new candlestick holder that would be perfect.

I found this Shabbat candle set on Etsy and loved it from the moment I laid eyes on it – even better, it’s actually hand-made in Israel, which instantly makes it awesome (of course, when you’re a Jew, anything made in Israel is full of awesome). The price was great too, and it’s such a beautiful little piece that it looks so nice in my home & makes me excited to use it. I just adore it!

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