As guests filled the hall of the Jewish Cultural Center on the evening of April 23, seven candles waited to be transformed into quiet testaments to lives lost and a chapter of history that must never be forgotten.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga’s annual Yom HaShoah commemoration drew a full house of community members, all gathered to honor the 6 million Jews murdered during the Holocaust – and to shine a light on the millions of other innocent lives also claimed by Nazi persecution.
“It’s more important than ever that we stand strong together as a community,” said Ken Goldsmith, chair of the Federation’s board, in his opening remarks. “Even with the abundance of challenges facing the Jewish community today, we must never forget.”
Yom HaShoah participants traditionally light six candles in memory of the 6 million Jews killed. This year’s ceremony included a symbolic addition: a seventh candle, lit in memory of the non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust.
Before the ceremony, Rabbi Sam Rotenberg of B’nai Zion Congregation reminded the audience that each candle represented not just a number but also human lives – “people who had friends, families, foods they loved and children they cherished.”
The evening was not only about memory – it was also about vigilance.
Historian and Holocaust educator Alison Vick took the podium to discuss an urgent and modern concern: the use of artificial intelligence in preserving and, at times, distorting Holocaust history. Vick, who serves as program coordinator for the Tennessee Holocaust Commission and teaches at Pellissippi State, began with a chilling personal memory – discovering antisemitic graffiti at a labor camp in Poland in 2016.
“That memory stays with me every day,” she said. “It’s what brought me to this work.”
Vick outlined promising innovations – from interactive survivor storytelling platforms like “Tell Me, Inge” to augmented reality applications that allow students to explore Holocaust sites from their classrooms.
But she also highlighted AI’s darker capabilities. Vick recounted how she tested ChatGPT with Holocaust-related prompts, only to receive fabricated events and phrasing that left room for Holocaust denial.
“As someone who studies Holocaust distortion, this made my stomach turn,” she said. “Our students are curious, visual and often skeptical – and we have to be prepared for how misinformation might reach them.”
To underscore her point, Vick displayed an AI-generated image that replaces the mass grave in “The Last Jew in Vinnitsa” – a famous Holocaust photograph – with a city fountain. “If I can do that in under a minute, imagine what someone who’s skilled at this kind of thing and has an agenda could do,” she warned.
The evening concluded with a screening of “Malka,” a short musical film by composer and producer Seth Bisen-Hersh. Inspired by his grandmother’s experience in the camps, “Malka” tells the story of an elderly woman haunted by her past during a modern-day Passover Seder. The film stars Broadway and television veteran Tovah Feldshuh.
Learn more about the Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga at jewishchattanooga.com. The site offers information on the organization’s mission, programs and events.?