Written by: Blumie Raskin Abend
This week
I will go to Shul.
For Lori Kaye,
A woman in 2019 who died
Because she was born
A Jew.
I will go to Shul
For my grandfather
Who survived the hellish nightmare
That was Auschwitz
But who’s family
I never knew.
I will go to Shul
For Eva, the instagram poster
Who wanted to live
Who wanted to be a child
But her youth
Was ripped away from her.
I will go to Shul
For Gabi and Rivky Holzberg
Who were murdered
In cold blood
In their home.
I will go to Shul
For baby Shalhevet
The child of Chevron
Who barely lived on this earth
And now occupies a place
On High.

On Holocaust Memorial Day (Yom Hashoah) on May 2, under the theme “Say No to Anti-Semitism,” more than 10,000 Jewish and non-Jewish youth from 40 different countries, together with dozens of Holocaust survivors and dignitaries from around the world, participated in the 31st annual International March of the Living to pay tribute to all victims of the Holocaust and call for an end to anti-Semitism.

Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) introduced a resolution on Thursday condemning “all forms” of anti-Semitism to mark Yom Hashoah, or Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day.
“Anti-Semitism is on the rise around the world and here in America,” said Cruz in a statement. “In just the last few weeks, we have seen it manifested as hateful cartoons in major news publications, anti-Semitic smears in the halls of Congress and murders at houses of worship,” referencing such illustrations in the international edition of The New York Times and the Chabad of Poway shooting in Southern California, where one woman was killed and three others injured, Both instances happened within the week.

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladmir Putin discussed the possibility of a new multilateral nuclear accord in a Friday phone call, the White House said Friday.
They also discussed the situation in Venezuela and North Korean denuclearization, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a White House briefing.
She said they also touched on trade and the situation in Ukraine during their talks — which lasted almost an hour and a half according to Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Read more at i24NEWS.
{Matzav.com}

Police are warning Lakwood residents of a possible ring of robbers operating in the area.
Fifteen homes were burglarized in the Regent/ Hollywood neighborhood last Friday night, police say. The previous Friday night, homes by Glen Avenue were targeted.
The police shared that the group targets a different neighborhood every Friday night. The thieves mostly enter through unlocked windows and search for for cash, wallets and jewelry on the first floor of occupied homes.
The police suspect that the group is aware that many surveillance cameras are off on Shabbos and that people usually don’t call the police on Shabbos.
Please be careful to lock all windows Friday night and every night.
{Matzav.com}

An IDF officer and a female soldier were wounded on Friday evening after shots were fired at Israeli soldiers along the Gaza border in southern Israel.
According to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, the officer is listed in moderate condition. The soldier suffered very light injuries. Both were evacuated to hospital for treatment.
In response to the shooting, IDF aircraft attacked a military post belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza.
Read more at Arutz Sheva.
{Matzav.com}

As is well known, there is a minhag to make shlissel challah for the Shabbos after Pesach. Shlissel challahs are best known as a segulah for parnassah, although there are other several reasons for baking a challah with a key in it. However, some have raised health concerns regarding this minhag. Keys have been found to leave behind unsafe amounts of lead, leading some to suggest that the practice of placing keys in challahs in making shlissel challah may present a danger.

The White House on Friday hit back at Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for accusing Attorney General William Barr of committing a crime by lying to lawmakers in sworn testimony.
“The fact that the Speaker would take it upon herself to call him a liar is really, really inappropriate and beneath her office,” deputy press secretary Steven Groves said on MSNBC.
Pelosi said Thursday that she “lost sleep” Wednesday night watching replays of Barr’s testimony. “He lied to Congress; he lied to Congress. And if anybody else did that, it would be considered a crime,” Pelosi said.
Read more at The Hill.
{Matzav.com}

The annual “Every Person Has a Name” ceremony was held at the Knesset on Thursday, the Knesset members reading off the names of Jews who perished at the hands of the Nazis during the Holocaust.
The ceremony, which was established 20 years ago by then-Knesset speaker, Holocaust survivor and partisan fighter Dov Shilansky, was named for a poem by the famed Israeli who called herself Zelda.