Illuminate was founded to increase the awareness, education and commemoration of the Holocaust for future generations.
The idea was simple: to create a meaningful, digital candle lighting ritual so users could easily honor the memory of one victim of the Holocaust, for years to come. Our hope now is to reach the goal of six million people lighting six million candles to remember each soul lost in the Holocaust.
At Illuminate, we feel that all of us have a collective obligation to create a more compassionate, connected and caring future. Through the act of conscious memory, we hope to move our world in this direction, one candle at a time. Please share Illuminate widely so we can reach these goals together.
A letter from the founder
In October of 2015, I stood in a forest of birch trees watching them explode in the ambers and reds of Fall. Bronnaya Gora, hidden off a dirt road to nowhere, is a forgotten corner of Belarus. There, in May 1942, 50,000 Jews were shot to death in open pits by the Nazis. Among those killed were 80 of my relatives. In the shade of those trees, there is one small memorial, no sign of the burial ground under the wild grass, no list of names of those that died, no one telling their story.
As the child of a Holocaust Survivor, I have spent my life trying to find places, names and stories to hold on to as I struggled to understand this tragic history. Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, has always given me a moment in the year to stand with like-minded others for a few moments of shared sadness, community and reverence.
In 2013, I attended a Yom HaShoah commemoration at a synagogue in Boca Raton, Florida. The Rabbi asked the Holocaust Survivors in attendance to each light a Yahrzeit (memorial) candle. Six elderly people came to the stage. Then the Rabbi asked for the children of Survivors and 15 of us lit candles and surrounded the Survivors. Finally, the Rabbi asked for any grandchildren of survivors and 35 kids came forward and stood in the glow of the candles and the faces of their parents and grandparents. Illuminate was born that day, conceived from the depths of tragedy and the sanctuary of community.
In a short time, there will be no survivors left to light candles, no more eyewitnesses to share their stories. As a result, building a community to carry forward the light of the souls lost during the Holocaust has become all the more important to me. Thank you for coming to Illuminate and I look forward to lighting my candle alongside yours.
