The 6 Million Lights Story
6 Million Lights started with Roza, a 90 year old Holocaust Survivor of Transistria. While participating in a 2018 Legacy Lights workshop through The Illumignossi Project, Roza shared how her lamp would help her sleep at night, because ever since her horrifying Holocaust experience she’d been unable to sleep in total darkness. Roza inspired us with her indomitable spirit and we couldn’t help but notice that despite the darkness Roza experienced in the Holocaust, she found light in her life and it radiated from her.
The Holocaust:
A Campaign of Evil That Still Casts a Shadow
It’s unfathomable.
6 million human souls, charged with nothing except being Jewish, were murdered, most within the space of less than 4 years.
How can we answer that? We can’t. Ever. And yet we must try.
Because 80 years later, hatred and intolerance still plague us.
We see a coarsening of civil discourse, rising hate crimes, worsening anti-Jewish hatred, and spreading authoritarianism.
The challenges are immense and there are no simple panaceas. But passivity is surrender. We must take action.
Thus…
6 Million Lights Campaign
“You are not obligated to complete the work,
but neither are you free to desist from it.”
-Pirkei Avot 2:12
It’s a 5 year campaign to honor the memory of the 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust by putting more light into the world. (We also acknowledge the 5 million non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust)
It’s about 6 Million light makers, each a “living light” committed to combating hate and intolerance and putting light into the world. It’s about 6 Million lamp lights, every one a luminous reminder of each person’s intention to share light and bring light to the world.
We create change one living light and one lamplight at a time.
Because “Never Again” starts with us.
6 Million Lights: an inspiring campaign of kindness, tolerance, and light.
6 Million? Really?!
It’s a journey...it won’t happen overnight. And it’s really about the journey—how each of us is impacted by the 6 Million Lights workshop process. How the power of each individual is amplified by the power of community.
But…6 Million Lights? In 5 short years?
It’s a journey...it won’t happen overnight. And it’s really about the journey—how each of us is impacted by the 6 Million Lights workshop process. How the power of each individual is amplified by the power of community.
Yes, it sounds unthinkable. But think about how the Nazis extinguished the light of 6 million Jewish souls
(and 5 million non-Jewish souls) in less than 5 years.
That too was unthinkable. In a dark, evil way.
Now let us do the unthinkable (in a good way).
Numbering and Meaning-making
Each lamp is numbered as we journey toward the goal of 6 million lamplights. Each light maker is given an opportunity to dedicate their lamplight to an individual or group. Each light maker forms an intention which can be attached to the lamp as a reminder. And each light maker participates in a guided workshop process—online or in person—that is meaningful, impactful, and hopefully transforming.
Dispelling Darkness
We’re not doing this just because the Holocaust occurred. Even if there were NO Holocaust, bringing more light into the world would be a worthwhile project. But, it takes on added significance when we consider the Holocaust, one of the darkest chapters in human history, as additional motivation for dispelling darkness and bringing more light to the world.
Is 6 Million Lights a Holocaust Project?
Yes and no. We’d call it a Holocaust-adjacent project. While 6 Million Lights is about honoring the memory of the lives lost in the tragedy of the Holocaust, we’re focused on honoring their memory through fostering positive social transformation through positive personal change. We facilitate personal reflection, communal conversation, and sharing of wisdom, using light-making workshops as our tool. In addition, participants bring the workshop process home with them through the lamps they’ve made or purchased, each lamp a reminder of the intentions and meanings discovered along the way.
We believe the best way to honor the memory of the 6 Million is by putting light into the world.
A Range of Workshop Programs
One particular program—Light of Our Survivors —has a very direct connection to the Holocaust, honoring our Survivors and their descendants and the light they’ve shared with the world.
But we also provide a range of different light-making workshop programs spanning the lifecycle. Given the immensity and challenge of grappling with the Holocaust, we recognize and honor a wide spectrum of programs and approaches, but in all of our workshops, we create a space to acknowledge the 6 Million.
