Monday marks Yom Ha’Shoah, also known as Holocaust Remembrance Day. The Marin community will gather on Sunday, not only to commemorate the millions of innocent people murdered during the Holocaust, but to share a vision for a future where hatred and blame are overcome by community and resilience.

We do not invoke the horrors of the Holocaust simply to remember, but as a way to look forward. This is our Jewish practice.

The gathering of remembrance and inspiration will feature music, poetry, a survivor’s memories, a fourth-generation teen’s perspective and a photo montage of Marin’s survivors.

But this year is unlike any other.

The brutal attacks on Israel by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7 changed the Jewish world. In planning our program, we were faced with commemorating the darkest period of Jewish history while living through a fresh version of Jewish hatred, uncertainty and despair.

As a community, our group includes Holocaust survivors, their children, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren. We view the years since the Holocaust from our own perspectives. Right now, we are living through a time of blatant antisemitism, unprecedented since the Holocaust. And it appears to be going unchecked in some corners of our country.

We are forced to ask ourselves disturbing questions. Will a holocaust repeat itself? How do we honor the memory of millions, yet keep hope alive at a time when the violent hatred of the past feels immediate and frightening? How will this story end?

As an educator for more than 40 years, I refuse to allow my sadness to fall into despair over the rising tide of antisemitism in the typical hotbeds of hatred, as well as now seemingly on display at some of our most elite universities. Rather, the more important question is: What can we do to reverse the tide?

Earlier this week, Jews around the world completed the celebration of Passover, the story of our people’s liberation from slavery. We tell our story year after year, for millennia, both to remember and to rededicate ourselves to the pursuit of freedom — for all people. This too, is a lesson of Yom Ha’Shoah.

Yom Ha’Shoah allows us to come together and act. Our gathering is dedicated to reinforcing the importance of education and of teaching lessons of resilience and empathy.

We must continue to teach each generation what made it possible to mobilize the great majority of citizens from a civilized, industrialized and educated society to hate, blame, persecute and eventually either participate in or turn a blind eye to the extermination of their neighbors, their fellow human beings whose only crime was that they were born Jewish.

We must not just mourn our horrific loss but also learn from it. We cannot be silent when we witness antisemitism and other forms of racism. We must combat racism, antisemitism, homophobia and other hatreds. And we must compel ourselves to lead with love. As my friend and local Holocaust survivor Anita Frank says, “Hate is contagious, but so is love.”

So, this Sunday, we gather as we do each year, even with heaviness in our hearts. We come together as a community to find strength and hope for a future where all are free from hatred.

We will hear from a fourth-generation teen, a Marin high school student who is the great-granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. She will share her thoughts about what it’s like to be a teen today with the rise of antisemitism in schools and in the community, her feeling of responsibility for building a better future, and her plans for doing just that.

We invite the entire Marin community to join us to remember, to reflect and to learn. For more information and to register please visit kolshofar.org.

Beverly Pinto, of San Anselmo, is a retired educator. She is part of Tiburon’s Congregation Kol Shofar community.