HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR DAVID SCHAECTER AND WIFE, COMMUNITY ACTIVIST, SYDNEY SCHAECTER TO BE HONORED BY TEMPLE JUDEA ON APRIL 13, 2019 AT THE L’CHAIM, TO LIFE! GALA

Temple Judea, is pleased to announce that world-renowned Holocaust survivor David Schaecter, and his wife Sydney Schaecter, are the synagogue’s 2019 Pillars of Judah Honorees. The Pillars of Judah Award honors individuals who are extraordinary volunteers with the ability to engage the hearts and minds of others. Pillars galvanize and educate community and are dedicated to making Temple Judea – and the world – a better place. These unique individuals continually inspire, lead by example and take personal responsibility for ensuring the well-being of others.
The Saturday, April 13, 2019 Gala, considered Temple Judea’s premier fundraising event, is appropriately entitled, L’Chaim, To Life! celebrating the lives of Holocaust survivor, David Schaecter and his wife, community activist, Sydney Schaecter.
Co-Chairs, Linda & Michael Bittel and Bella & Jay Newmark, along with a dedicated volunteer leadership committee, are planning a meaningful evening which will highlight the individual and combined accomplishments of the Schaecters through their decades of unwavering devotion to the local and global needs of the Jewish people.
“As the L’Chaim, To Life! Gala Co-Chairs we feel honored to have the privilege of spearheading this distinguished tribute event for Sydney and David. Their collective contributions have literally shaped the infrastructure of the Jewish community worldwide. The Schaecters live a life focused on hope, perseverance, and strengthening the Jewish people.”
David, a Miami resident and a founding member of the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach, speaks globally recounting his ‘Choose Life’ story. Schaecter is the subject of the 2017 documentary, ‘A Call to Remember’, by Holocaust scholar, Michael Berenbaum. Born in a small village in Czechoslovakia, Schaecter was a young boy when the Nazis rose to power in Germany and is the only member of his family to survive the Holocaust. The film recounts his struggle for survival in Auschwitz, his escape, and how Schaecter pieces his life back together following the war; – determined to recount the stories of all those who were lost by ensuring that we never forget about the atrocities of the Holocaust.
Sydney Schaecter’s contributions to the South Florida Jewish community have been recognized for more than 40 years dating back to her board leadership positions at the south Dade area office of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation and the Alper JCC. Her more recent contributions came notably through her roles as Associate Director of Major Gifts for the Greater Miami Jewish Federation as well as the Employment & Business Development Specialist for ParnossahWorks Miami (now known as J-Works Miami). One of Schaecter’s most successful programs for J-Works was the outreach she spearhead during a time when unemployment was exceedingly high in South Florida. Schaecter built partnerships with local employers by identifying their hiring needs in order to create synergies to find employment for Jewish members of the community so they could return to the work force.
“We are so moved to have been chosen by Temple Judea as the 2019 Pillars of Judah Award Honorees. Temple Judea is our spiritual home. The clergy and professional staff have created a community that welcomes and values each and every congregant. There is a warmth, appreciation and respect that David and I feel at Judea that is like no other. David and I have been embraced by our synagogue and we are continually fulfilled to pray and play with as many as four generations – including our children and grandchildren. Having both served the Jewish community (and beyond) for decades: I, as a volunteer and then a Federation professional, and David as an inspirational hero, leader and educator for the Holocaust Community; this beautiful tribute means so very much to us both. We have dedicated our lives to service and pledge to continue to do so as Pillars of Judah. Our hearts are full as we look forward to celebrating at the L’Chaim, To Life! Gala with our loving friends and family this spring.”
The Temple Judea L’Chaim, To Life! Gala Tickets are $180 / $250 per person.  For more information on our Schaecter Tribute Book and Gala Sponsorships please contact Danielle Spiegelman, Senior Director of Campus Advancement for Temple Judea at d.spiegelman@judeagables.org or at 305-667-5657 x 2119.

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5 COMMENTS

  1. Dear David: I just watched “A Call to Remember”. I am so grateful that you survived to tell the stories – lest anyone ever forget the horrific circumstances that you and so many others lived through. I am 76 years old and now live in Los Angeles. My grandmother told me, when I asked her what happened to her family in Europe and why they were not here, she said, “Daharget”. (Please excuse spelling.) Yiddish was my first language thanks to my grandparents and my hope is that the culture never dies and people remember, though you, forever. Again, thank you.

    With my Deepest Respect and Admiration,
    Ellen Frankel (nee Ellen Steinhouse)

  2. What a great story of survival… thanks David for sharing this with us and the world. I hope and pray that our people and no one in the world have to go trough so much suffering again. We live in a crazy world in which the moral values and respect to one another and also the love for our mighty Lord scarce more and more…
    let’s all hope for the best.

  3. Just watched your story on PBS. Thank you for your courage and your unrelenting spirit. God bless you.

  4. No words can express the Horror l sensed watching these segments David spoke about and survived and the fear he had to live with every second of the day while he was surrounded by death surviving and being part of a movement to never letting the memory die for the purpose of never letting this horror ever happen again and l hace viewed many like this broadcast and find it necessary,Never forgetting what happened there and always wanting to know why God allowed this Horror to happen!!!! Help me understand WHY? Please David help me understand. Please share with me.

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