In his recent guest commentary of July 18 arguing against using Atlantic City's Boardwalk as the venue for our major Holocaust Memorial "because Boardwalk patrons gather only for pleasure and relaxation," the writer either omitted or overlooked a key feature about the seashore resort's principal asset. Beside its many obviously playful aspects, the Atlantic City Boardwalk additionally boasts a variety of serious, thoughtful and not infrequently inspirational attractions.

Who has not been moved when first sighting the grandiose, patriotic and historically enlightening Korean Memorial? And, for similar motives of memorialization, did not fellow union members grieving over victims of the collapse of the Tropicana parking garage, insist that the only appropriate place for their "Fallen Iron Worker" statue had to be precisely in the middle of the Boardwalk at the Kennedy Plaza, whose famous bust, in turn, aptly immortalizes and commemorates that tragic Presidential assassination?

Increasingly, the same psychic dynamic of weighty significance holds true for burgeoning crowds who report feeling imaginatively transported by the growing variety of innovative and important shows at the Garden Pier Art Museum (not long ago it featured an excellent and well-attended exhibit - co-sponsored by Stockton College - on the art of the Holocaust). Likewise, how many regular Boardwalk devotes have never attended any of the innumerable, consequential cultural events - some, again, courtesy of Stockton College's Performing Arts Center, encompassing everything from outdoor celebrity concerts to Broadway music, dance and drama to opera galas to a slew of ethnic festivities including Israel Independence Day celebrations, etcetera.

In fact, this guaranteed enormous foot traffic, providing a remarkable opportunity - perhaps unprecedented in the world - for mass consciousnessraising regarding genocide and the Holocaust is exactly why the managing director at Yad Va Shem's World Center for Holocaust research and exhibition was so enthusiastic. When I sought his counsel, during Temple Emeth Shalom's 60th anniversary pilgrimage this summer, he immediately comprehended its awesome potentiality and then moved well beyond mere recognition of the suitability of the Atlantic City Boardwalk venue. After I had fully explained our plans, this veteran and sophisticated official both encouraged and endorsed this prime location, standing alone beachside near New York Ave. blessed by a majestic ocean backdrop.

Simi1arly, one day after my return to the United States, I was contacted by the sculptor reputed to be Israel's most acclaimed museum and memorial designer who, for basically the same reasons, excitedly mirrored Yad Va Shem's endorsement. With forty-four million annual by-passers traversing such a concentrated geographic area (Atlantic City's Boardwalk is only a few miles long and several yards wide), it could well constitute one of the world's most important vehicles for inspirational mass exposure to the evils of genocide and the Holocaust; thereby fulfilling the philosopher Santayana's starkly prescient admonition "those (generations) who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it."

Incidentally, the flipside between burgeoning viewer-success versus abject, empty failure is well illustrated by the sad fate of the artistically acclaimed and highly educational Martin Luther King Civil Rights Garden solely due to its inappropriate placement in downtown Atlantic City. Its silent serene dignity and pristine neatness resemble any well-kept yet mostly deserted cemetery. Thereby assuring that the Garden Memorial's critical message will be virtually ignored even though it is only a stone's throw away from our Holocaust Memorial site where throngs of curious strollers will conveniently happen by. Again, confirming that most elemental realtor's mantra: "location, location, location."

Allow me to close with two additional important caveats offered by the Yad Va Shem Director. First, he carefully explained that total construction costs must also include a critical endowment fund for suitable future programming, maintenance and repair. (He was far less concerned about possible vandals and security in general which, world-wide, is routinely adequate using safety lighting, night lock-up, automated alarms and security cameras as well as centralized, 24-hour police patrol.) Secondly, he urged us to creatively partner with some appropriate institution such as Stockton College's well-regarded and well known Holocaust Resource Center. Particularly, since our Memorial would be within visual distance of Stockton's soon-to-be expanded Atlantic City urban campus adjacent to the Carnegie Library.

As President of ACBHM, I invite the writer of the July 18th commentary, who is himself a Holocaust survivor, to act as an honest broker in helping to facilitate a productive partnership between the indepth institution of learning at Stockton College, located in the woodsy solitude of Pomona, N.J., where I have served as visiting professor these past 20 years, and our artistically dramatic, consciousnessraising witness on the A.C. Boardwalk. The kind of joint, fruitful enterprise that would enable ACBHM and its partner to more readily realize and fulfill this challenging yet eminently worthwhile, indeed holy, mission.