Community Corner

This UES Street Has A New Name

​City Councilmember Keith Powers held the street co-naming event in collaboration with Park East Synagogue.

​City Councilmember Keith Powers held the street co-naming event in collaboration with Park East Synagogue, a modern Orthodox Jewish community nearby. ​
​City Councilmember Keith Powers held the street co-naming event in collaboration with Park East Synagogue, a modern Orthodox Jewish community nearby. ​ (Photo Credit: Gerardo Romo/NYC Council Media Unit)

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — East 67th Street, between Third Avenue and Lexington Avenue, has a new name: Yad Vashem Way.

The street, which was renamed in a ceremony on Thursday, is named after Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum and memorial in Jerusalem, in honor of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which was on Monday.

City Councilmember Keith Powers held the street co-naming event in collaboration with Park East Synagogue, a modern Orthodox Jewish community nearby.

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"We must continue to educate future generations about the atrocities that occurred during the Holocaust so that they never happen again, and now every person who looks up at the street sign proclaiming East 67th Street as Yad Vashem Way will understand the history and resilience of the Jewish people," Powers said.

The councilmember was joined by Chairman of Yad Vashem Dani Dayan and Consul General of Israel Ofir Akunis, as well as local representatives including Congressmember Jerry Nadler, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, Councilmember Julie Menin, Senator Liz Krueger, and Assemblymember Alex Bores.

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“The co-naming of this street as Yad Vashem Way is a living testament to the resilience of the Jewish spirit and the unshakable fortitude of survivors who made a home for themselves and their families in New York City,” Nadler said.

Since 1962, Park East Synagogue has been led by Rabbi Arthur Schneier, an Austrian-born Holocaust survivor and human rights activist.

“Auschwitz crematoria are the graveyards of my grandparents and family members," Schneier said. "We honor the memory of 6 million Jews including 1.5 million children with the renaming of this street to Yad Vashem Way."

For questions and tips, email Miranda.Levingston@Patch.com.

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