A
BULLETIN FROM THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA
LYNN EDELMAN, CORPORATE AND
PUBLIC CORPORATIONS MANAGER
JUNE
4, 2009 :
EVERY
TIME RABBI GORDAN GELLER stands on the Atlantic City Boardwalk he dreams the same dream. In his minds eye he sees a
dramatic Holocaust memorial capturing the attention of the vast multitudes of visitors who walk the "boards" each
year. Geller, the founder and president of Atlantic City Boardwalk Holocaust Memorial, Inc., a tax-exempt, not-for-prfit oganizatiion,
is currently seeking the funds to conduct an international design competition----a necessary first step to make this dream
a reality.
"SINCE
ATLANTIC CITY has once again emerged as a major destination resort, the Boardwalk's 35,000,000 annual visits translate
into 10,000,000 unique, individual pedestrians passing by our site each and every year," notes Rabbi Geller, who emphasized
that, because of the impressive numbers of potential visitors, this project was endorsed by Shaya
ben Yehuda, the managing director of Israel's famed Holocaust exhibition center, Yad va Shem, in Jerusalem.
LAST SUMMER, ATLANTIC CITY COUNCIL passed a resolution granting Geller's organization a prime place
of real estate for the site---60 frontage feet wide, on the beach side of the Boardwalk, between New York and Kentucky Avenues.
In November, a press conference at the pavilion site was held on the Boardwalk fromally announcing the future home of the
A.C.B.H.M.
THE OVERALL PURPOSE is to inspire and raise the consciousness of the next generation with a legacy message of "common
humanity / never again". Several community-wide, interfaith committees are hard at work to help Geller realize his goal.
In the words of ben Yehudah: "If done effectively, ACBHM could
become one of the most important vehicles in the world for transmitting a universal legacy message of "common humanity
and 'never again' to unprecedented multitudes for generations to come."
