Mazal Tov to Jillian Weisman and Josh Mandell, and to Noy Shtein and Micah Cohen, two newly engaged couples who met on the migrash at the Ramah Day Camp in Nyack.

I’ve been at Ramah Nyack for 19 years and have had the joy of dancing at many Nyack weddings. Jillian and Josh met at camp, followed different paths through school and work and fell in love years later. Noy a member of our mishlachat (Israeli delegation) was spending the summer at camp before starting medical school. Micah, the only sibling in his family not to work at Nyack (a proud alum of Camp Ramah in the Berkshires), was visiting his brothers at camp when he first met Noy. Their love story has spanned five years and several continents.

But why announce these two smchaot on Yom Ha’Shoah, a day when memory rests heavily on our shoulders? One reason is that memory has always served as our people’s compass and helps shape our Jewish destiny. Weddings (and, of course, Ramah weddings!) reaffirm our commitment, hopes, and prayers for a bright Jewish future.

But for these two incredible couples, there’s another reason to announce their engagements on Yom Ha’Shoah: the Bielski brothers.

Operating in Western Belorussia between 1942 and 1944, the Bielski brothers and partisan groups were responsible for saving over 1,200 Jews during the war. It is because of them that both Jillian and Noy are alive today. Jillian is the granddaughter of Aron Bielski. Noy’s grandmother was saved by the brothers.

Today we light candles and remind ourselves to remember. I try to imagine the forests of Belorussia, where parents and children clung to hope and were often met with despair. How could they possibly paint a Jewish future? 70 years later, their descendants, who grew up in Israel and North America and met in the beautiful woods of Ramah Nyack, are immersed in one of today’s most vibrant and inspirational Jewish communities.

We remember, we express gratitude, and we prepare to celebrate. Mazal Tov Jillian and Josh, Noy and Micah.