My Personal Journey

On April 25, 2026, I was invited to speak to the East Meadow Beth El Jewish Center congregation on Long Island, New York. This was my message to the congregation.

Shabbat shalom!

I am honoured to be invited to speak to you today on this Shabbat morning. For me, there no greater obligation or honour than to speak about the Shoah which is what brings me here all the way from Toronto, Canada.

There is so much work to be done on Holocaust awareness with rising antisemitism, a trend towards fascism, Holocaust denial, and propaganda and misinformation spreading at a rate that would make Joseph Goebbels blush.

In 2022, I was having a meal at a restaurant in Krakow Poland, with my wife Mary Anne. The server, a young woman, struck up a conversation with us. At one point we mentioned that we had been to Auschwitz-Birkenau the day before. She didn’t what that was. Even though Krakow is just an hour drive from the former death camp. That is why I refer to Holocaust awareness rather than Holocaust education.

As you all aware, I am a child of Holocaust survivors.

In facts, I am not supposed to be here. My existence and those of other descendants is a miracle of survival, resilience and love. We have not just survived but we have thrived.

We have wonderful families, established businesses and professions, and we have a beautiful homeland in Israel.

So, a little bit about my parents.

My father Elija Oksenhendler was born in Wislica in central Poland in 1912. The family lived in this shtetl for at least 150 years but likely much longer. Jews first settled in Wislica in 1514. Unfortunately records only go back as far as the mid eighteenth century but I was able to trace back to my fourth great-grandfather, Mosiek Oksenhendler, born in 1758.

At the start of the WWII, the village had about 2500 residents and 1500 were Jewish. Today the village has only 500 residents and no Jews. Quite typical of Poland today.