I’m grateful that, thanks to Rabbi David Wilfond, I’ll be a guest speaker at https://www.facebook.com/tstbedford Temple Shaaray Tefila in Bedford, NY, at the end of Sabbath services tomorrow.

I’ll be discussing the journey that led to my award-winning memoir, “The Silk Factory: Finding Threads of My Family’s True Holocaust Story,” in the context of the current rise in antisemitism.

What’s happening today is in many ways similar to what happened in Germany in the 1930s. Current events today, like then, are fanning the flames of antisemitism, are providing cover for those who would poison the minds of our fellow citizens with antisemitic propaganda, with hate.

I’m sure you have your own feelings about these things, and I’m not here to prescribe what you should think. But whatever those feelings are, in light of my journey, I would urge you to express them, especially to your children and grandchildren.

Because otherwise, all your children and grandchildren are left with are those inchoate feelings that they can intuit but cannot name, feelings they inherit from you but that they cannot master.

Myself, I was left with feelings of anger I never understood, because my parents didn’t explain things. It took going on this journey to learn of them and to realize where my deep seated anger comes from, and only that journey allowed me to identify and then overcome that anger.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m still angry about what happened to my family, and I’m angry at people who won’t acknowledge it. But I’m also grateful for the people who have expressed remorse, and I’m grateful to be here and able to speak to you about it.