My grandfather, whose memory is a blessing, took his duty to provide for his family seriously and thus had to travel during the Jewish holiday known as Hanukkah. Because he had to be away from home during those eight days, he brought along a tiny menorah — smaller than a single stick of butter. It had meticulously crafted hinges. When its layers were unfolded, it transformed itself into a mini replica of a fully fledged menorah, complete with little holders for eight candles. What strikes me about this is that the act of nightly lighting a candle, of carrying forward this tradition, brought him the comfort of being close to home and able to enter a sacred space.

Lighting a candle is a powerful, mysterious and unifying act that reaches across and beyond human diversity to embrace unity. For millennia, people around the world of different faiths and cultures have come together shedding many of their differences through this simple act. It rejects rushing and unfocused attention — it enjoins us to slow down. To reflect and breathe in our experience. Lighting a candle has the power to soothe us and unify us when we need it most.

For those of us who are Jewish, we carry forward a multigenerational tradition of lighting candles as our thread of continuity that reaches back in time and illuminates our seasonal observances, our commemorations, our grief and our joy. One of these important days is dedicated to the Holocaust — it’s called Yom HaShoah. On this day we honor the memory of Jews and Righteous Gentiles during the annual communitywide Sonoma County Yom HaShoah observance. During the traditional candle lighting ceremony, six Holocaust survivors living in our community will light candles in the memory of the 6 million Jews who perished. Other candles are lit for other innocent victims, and for all genocides past and present.

This year the Yom HaShoah commemoration will take place at 3 p.m. April 27 at Congregation Shomrei Torah, 2600 Bennet Valley Drive, Santa Rosa. The program is free and open to the public. To attend or to receive a Zoom link, you must register by April 24 at jccsoco.org/yom-hashoah.

Peter M. Krohn, a Holocaust survivor, is co-chair of the Yom HaShoah Commemoration and speaks to students from fifth grade through college for the Holocaust Story Project. He lives in Santa Rosa.