Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Yom Ha-Shoah

The remarkable talents of our Torah MiTzion Kollel and our Bat Ami girls, as well as those of Moreh Shimshon, were on full display today's moving and thought-provoking Yom Ha-Shoah program. The program began with grades three through twelve entering a darkened gym through a "tunnel" of Holocaust pictures which helped them create mental picture of at least some element of the tragedy. With a visual image in mind, each student then lit a candle which, together with those of all of our other students, formed two Jewish stars.

The students then sat for a presentation which began with Yizkor for victims of the Nazi genocide then segued into a dramatic performance based on letters sent between brothers living on opposite sides of Europe as Hitler came to power. The presentation ended with a reading from a little girl who described her feeling upon entering a concentration camp followed by a chilling rendition of Ani Ma'amin and Ha-Tikvah.

To make the program even more personal, grades 7-12 then took part in an additional segment in which they traced the life story of a particular Jew through the Holocaust years and then came together to talk and discuss what the Holocaust means to them personally and to us as Jews.

Yasher kochachem to all to who helped put the program together.

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