Published On: 05.27.16 | 

By: Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Motorcycles rev up Holocaust education in Alabama

Steven Levitt and Sheldon Smaye, members of a Jewish motorcyclists' group in Ontario, Canada, suggested Birmingham as a site for the Jewish Motorcyclists Alliance's 2016 Ride to Remember. (Solomon Crenshaw Jr./Alabama NewsCenter)

Seventy-five motorcycles thundered 38 miles through parts of metro Birmingham on May 20.

They rumbled from Homewood to Mountain Brook to Liberty Park. They motored down U.S. 280, across Alabama 119 and up Grants Mill Road. More than 100 riders wound up at the Levite Jewish Community Center as they completed the Birmingham edition of their annual Ride to Remember.

“Every year we ride to remember to commemorate the Holocaust and raise money for Holocaust awareness and education so it never happens again,” said Betsy Ahrens, president of the Jewish Motorcyclists Alliance (JMA). “We’ve raised $600,000 in 12 years.”

Ride to Remember: Bike group brings Holocaust awareness event to heart of civil rights country from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.

This was an international assembly as some riders came from Israel, England, Australia and Canada. Other participants ventured from New York, New Jersey, Tennessee, South Florida and Chicago, among other places.

The Birmingham ride, which benefits the Birmingham Holocaust Education Center, brought in $18,335.

Ahrens said JMA comprises 46 Jewish motorcycle clubs and has about 6,000 members. The largest contingent attending the Birmingham ride came from Ontario.

Riders from Ontario suggested the alliance conduct its annual ride in the Birmingham area. Two members of the club, Sheldon Smaye and Steven Levitt, submitted the proposal.

“It all started with the movie ‘Selma,’” Smaye said. “I saw the movie soon after it came out and it hit home.”

Smaye said he was not trying to draw parallels between the civil rights movement and the Holocaust. But he did note similarities.

“There was a group of people that was thought less of, and certain bad acts, certain atrocities that took place that we want to remember and be sure never happen again,” he said.

JMA members accented their visit to Alabama by taking in local attractions, including a Birmingham Barons baseball game Saturday night at Regions Field.

Some members visited Barber Motorsports Park and Museum, home of the world’s largest motorcycle collection. Others rode to Selma to retrace the route of the historic Selma-to-Montgomery march.

“We thought that was very, very important for us to do,” Smaye said. “It touched all of us. We thought by coming to Birmingham and Alabama, it was just the right thing to do.”