Thus says the Lord: Observe what is right, do what is just, for my salvation is about to come, my justice, about to be revealed. (Isaiah 56:1)

August 18, 2026

Hello Everyone — 

Then Jesus went from that place and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not say a word in answer to her. His disciples came and asked him, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.” He said in reply, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But the woman came and did him homage, saying, “Lord, help me.”  

He said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done
for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that hour. (Mt 15:21-28)    

Amnon Weinstein and his son Avshalom are master violin makers. Three decades ago, a man came to the Weinsteins with an old violin that he wanted repaired for his grandchild. The man explained that he had played the violin when he was being held in a Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust. When Amnon opened the violin, he found black powder inside — ash from the camp’s crematorium.

That violin was the beginning of “Violins of Hope,” a collection of 70 restored string instruments that the Weinsteins have lovingly repaired and restored that were played by Jewish musicians before and during the Holocaust.

They have also been able to preserve many of the stories behind the instruments. Among them:

A violin owned by an Italian woman who was sent to Auschwitz. Her son managed to take the violin with him to a labor camp where he would play it at night with frozen fingers. After the war, he studied engineering and went on to build ships to transport and settle Jews in Palestine. After his death in 2012, his widow and daughters gave the instrument to Violins for Hope.

Then there is the violin owned by Erich Weininger, a butcher in Vienna as well as an amateur violinist. Though not allowed to play in the camps, he, too, managed to hold on to his instrument. Weininger survived imprisonment at Dachau and Buchenwald. After the war, he settled in Palestine where he played in a small orchestra with other deportees.

Another instrument survived a heartbreaking journey. In 1942, a train transporting Jews from Paris to concentration camps in the East stopped along a road. A man heard workmen speaking French. The man cried out, “In the place I now go – I don’t need a violin. Here, take my violin so it may live!” The man threw his violin out the railcar’s narrow window and one of the workers picked it up. Years later, the instrument was found in an attic and given to Violins for Hope.

The collection travels around the world where the instruments are played in concerts — many are played by the descendants of victims and survivors of the Holocaust. There are also exhibits and educational programs on the history of the Holocaust told through the stories of these instruments. In fact, from September 2025 through January 2026, the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra participated in hosting the Violins for Hope in our own locality.

The work of Violins of Hope preserves the memory and dignity of those who endured the horror of the Holocaust. The instruments preserved by the Weinsteins should inspire our world with hope that the merchants of hate and violence will not silence the “music” of God’s Spirit of peace and justice. Jesus’ encounter with the Canaanite woman is a sign of that same hope, challenging us to transform our own perspective of those we dismiss as less than we are because their culture, language, gender, or faith differs from our own.

May our eyes and hearts be open to see every man, woman, and child as God sees them: as God’s beloved children, brothers and sisters to one another, all made in the image of God and with dignity, and all embraced by the heart of God.

As I do for you, please pray for me,

Most Reverend Jeffrey S. Grob
Archbishop of Milwaukee

Every Tuesday, Archbishop Grob writes a blog reflecting on the faith, current events, personal memoirs or important issues.

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