After long lives with common roots in a collective horror, about 185 Holocaust survivors gathered Thursday in Rockville to light a candle on the menorah, catch up with old friends, share some laughs over lunch, and celebrate resilience.
“It boosts my energy,” said Faina Pesina, an 86-year-old originally from Leningrad, now living in Olney, speaking in Russian through a translator. “The atmosphere is very friendly and very light. It gives me a sense of belonging and acceptance.”
Pesina and the other survivors, now settled in Montgomery County or elsewhere in the Washington, D.C., area, attended Café Europa at Bnai Israel Congregation in Rockville on Thursday. Held every year around Hanukkah, which this year begins Sunday evening, Café Europa is one of the largest regular gatherings of Holocaust survivors in the region, according to the sponsor, the Jewish Social Service Agency…