A Holocaust hero is honored by a Jewish soldier through the melody of his violin, as he recovers from war injuries.

On July 7, 2024, at a Jerusalem Theatre concert, Sgt. Mordechai Shenvald, a 34-year-old Israeli soldier, played the "Theme from Schindler’s List" on the restored violin of a Holocaust victim, accompanied by the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra.

The inaugural events for The Moshal Shoah Legacy Campus and the David and Fela Shapell Family Collections Center were held at The World Holocaust Remembrance Center, Yad Vashem, in Israel.

Dani Dayan, chair of Yad Vashem, stated to Planet Chronicle Digital that music has the ability to surpass suffering and provide hope and dignity to people even in the most challenging circumstances.

The Holocaust's impact will be understood by future generations through the preservation of the stories and memories of its victims and survivors, as he stated.

The Holocaust collection at the center is the most extensive in the world, featuring documents, artwork, and photographs.

At the center's opening, Isaac Herzog, president of Israel, his wife Michal Herzog, Yad Vashem council chair Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, and other dignitaries were present.

Sgt. Shenvald informed Planet Chronicle Digital that he received a call to war at 8:07 a.m. on Oct. 7, 2023, following the Hamas terror attack that resulted in the deaths of 1,200 people and the kidnapping of 251 others, according to various reports.

Shenvald stated that he was a member of Unit 401, a top unit that was the first to enter Gaza. He defended kibbutzim that had been attacked violently and fought in Gaza for several weeks, he added.

Upon regaining consciousness, Shenvald remembered saying to himself, "Thank God I’m alive."

On Nov. 2, 2023, he recounted the incident of bullets striking his tank's engine, causing an explosion, which propelled him up into the air about five meters, as he stated.

"I felt like Superman," he said.

He sustained a concussion in the blast and, upon awakening, he thought to himself, "Thank God I survived."

Barzilai Medical Center in Israel, 12 miles from Gaza, was where his fellow soldiers took him.

Eight surgeries and counting

Shenvald shared that doctors told him he was miraculously surviving after sustaining 11 broken ribs, a pneumothorax, a broken right hip, and an injured back.

After that, he has undergone eight surgeries and is estimated to take another year or more to fully recover.

Shenvald stated that he was religious and shared, "I believe that God has a plan for me. I pray daily and work on improving my mind and spirit to change my behavior and make the best of this situation for the world."

His family is musical, he stated. His mother is a pianist and his father, a violinist - and they all play together on holidays and Shabbat.

Shenvald described a special bond with his "fun uncle," Meil, who was a violinist and soldier. He said his uncle was killed in 1995 while serving in Gaza, just a few minutes away from where Shenvald was injured in November 2023.

At his uncle's memorial service, Shenvald discovered his love for the violin, which he began playing at the age of six.

He still plays his uncle's violin, which his grandfather gave him when he was 26 years old.

Although playing the violin causes him physical pain, he stated that it has aided him in emotional healing.

"I believe that God has a plan … I pray every day."

"Although it was physically painful, the music transported me to another place," he stated.

"He stated that music "can elevate you.""

Shenvald plays his violin in a hospital gown, visibly moved, with people gathered around him singing along. He has also started playing the saxophone since his injuries, he said, because he wanted to find a creative way to practice his breathing.

Shenvald has performed in Los Angeles, New York, Boston, New Jersey, and Miami since the end of February. He has also performed three times at Yad Vashem, including one where he felt honored to play in front of Herzog, the president of Israel, on April 17, 2024.

Yad Vashem contacted Mordechai Shenvald to request that he play a special violin owned by Mordechai "Motale" Shlain, a young partisan who fought against the Nazis, on July 7.

Both men, despite having the same first name, are talented violin players.

Allen stated that both individuals are heroes who are fighting to safeguard the Jewish people from danger.

‘Live on forever’

Mordechai Shenvald will be writing a Page of Testimony at Yad Vashem about Mordechai "Motale" Shlain's life story on the evening of the performance, so that his name and memory will endure forever.

While practicing for the show, Shenvald was astonished to discover that Shlain's violin bore the date 1895.

"Holding something from the Holocaust or years ago is very special, as each violin has a soul and you can actually feel the person through it."

The sound of Shlain's violin was described as "warm, lovely, powerful, and youthful" by him.

An established Jewish family adopted Shlain, who was born to poor farmers in Krasnowka, Poland, and gifted him a violin, teaching him how to play.

In 1941, when Shlain was 11 years old, he witnessed Nazis murder his family from the attic where he was concealed.

Shlain saw Nazis kill his family from the attic where he was hiding.

According to The Times of Israel, Shlain escaped to a forest with his violin and became part of a Jewish resistance group.

Uncle Misha and Simcha were part of a partisan unit that Shlain joined, which included both Jewish and Christian fighters, as told by Seffi Hanegbi to Planet Chronicle Digital.

Simcha, Hanegbi's father, was close friends with Shlain, and they fought together, gathered intelligence, and played music together.

Shlain was described by Hanegbi as a "very talented child" and a "fantastic player."

Did not know he was Jewish

At 13 years old, Shlain began playing folk songs on his violin outside a Ukrainian church, drawing a crowd of people. Among them was a Nazi officer who requested that he perform at a restaurant for his fellow soldiers.

They did not know that he was Jewish.

He took the job at the restaurant as an opportunity to spy on the Nazis.

When over 200 senior Nazi officers were eating at the restaurant, Shlain went down to the cellar and lit a bomb wick.

Uncle Misha, the unit's commander, helped Shlain devise a plan to smuggle dynamite in his violin case to fill the deep cracks in the restaurant's cellar, as instructed by Hanegbi's grandfather, "Uncle Misha."

Nearly 40 pounds of explosives had been smuggled in by Shlain after making six "death-defying trips," according to aish.com.

On the night when more than 200 high-ranking Nazi officials were dining at the restaurant, Shlain descended to the basement and ignited a fuse.

Shlain was taught by Henegbi's grandfather how to ensure TNT would explode, and he was waiting outside when the restaurant blew up.

According to Henegbi, his father waved to him, he rode on his horse, and they left the place. Nothing happened to either of them, he stated.

According to multiple sources, Shlain was killed in a Nazi ambush in 1944 when he was only 14 years old.

Shlain died heroically while trying to safeguard the partisan group from Nazi aggression, as stated by Henegbi.

Yad Vashem stated that Henegbi's father took excellent care of Shlain's violin as a means of maintaining their friendship.

In 2000, Yad Vashem's Holocaust History Museum received a valuable violin from Henegbi.

The condition for the donation was that it would continue to be played globally and embody the spirit of Motale.