Technology is part of our lives today like never before. To observe Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) we can light a candle. And now, in addition to lighting a real candle, we can light a virtual one.
Members of our temple deliver physical Yom HaShoah yahrtzeit candles each year. Last spring, my husband Mark and I were delivering candles when a thought popped into my head: There should be a way to light a virtual candle.
With the help of a professional developer and in partnership with the Men of Fairmount Temple at Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple I have been able to create a Yom HaShoah Candle “app” for the iPhone. It enables you to virtually light a yahrzeit candle for Yom HaShoah on May 4, 2016. For me, and I hope for others, it will be a meaningful way to join the worldwide commemoration of the Holocaust.
Want to give it a try?
- Go to the App Store and search for Yom HaShoah Candle app.
- Download the free app and open it.
- Say yes, you will allow notifications.
- Choose a time to light the candle on the evening of May 4. (Then you can tap through all of the pages of the app.)
- The app will reopen and the candle will “light” on May 4 at the time you chose, not before. Once it is lit, tap the buttons to read a piece of text as well as other information about Yom HaShoah.
- After your candle “burns” for 24 hours you will receive a notice that it has extinguished.
Are you still a little unsure why this app would be useful? Here are just a few reasons:
- In addition to lighting a physical candle, you wish to observe Yom HaShoah in another way.
- You don’t have access to a candle.
- You are in a place where you cannot have an open flame, such as a rehab facility, college dorm room or nursing home.
- You are traveling and can’t light the candle at home.
It’s free, so give it a try. Share this info with your family and friends and on May 4 take advantage of technology!
–Susan Ringel of Pepper Pike teaches 3rd Grade Parent Child Hebrew at Fairmount Temple, is a community volunteer, and works as the operations manager at Dynamics Online in Beachwood. She and her husband, Mark, have two grown sons, who are never far from their iPhones.
