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I sense the existence of one Am Yisrael – one Jewish people – on Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day).

As Israel marks 70 years, here are seven ways (one for each decade!) to engage your congregation in celebrating the country and her people -- now and throughout the year.

A couple of years ago, at the ripe old age of 96, Simon Wiesenthal died in his sleep. Wiesenthal survived nine different concentration and labor camps and faced certain death on two occasions, but somehow, he outlived his Nazi tormentors.

The Holocaust did not impact my family in the same way of my peers whose grandparents are survivors, or my colleagues whose families escaped the war. Yet as a Jew, it is still my history.

Yom HaShoah is a day of mourning in Israel. Many stores close, music on the radio reflects the somber nature of the day, and most amazing is the sound of the siren.

In North America, Holocaust remembrance services and programs often include special musical selections in memory of people lost during the war and in honor of those who fought against the Nazis. Such music is profound and varied, and often was used as a vehicle of resistance. For example, “Zogt Nit Keynmol” (“Never Say That You Have Reached the Final Road”) was written in April 1943 in reaction to news of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. Composed in Vilna by underground fighter Hirsh Glick and set to a Soviet cinema tune by Dmitri and Daniel Pokrass, the song spread like wildfire throughout Eastern Europe, becoming the official hymn of the partisan brigades.

Yom HaShoah cannot be the only day we remember the Holocaust, but rather a frequent reminder of our obligation to end all forms of oppression.