Magen David Yeshivah was kind enough to bring the students a Yom Hashoah program that was so meaningful that I know it will stay with me forever.
It’s not enough to just hear a story, you want to feel it, see it and have it within your reach. It’s very difficult for today’s youth to understand something they know nothing about. Of course they are told the stories, but it’s different to hear it from someone who has actually been there and lived through the traumatic experience we call the Holocaust.
Unfortunately, these survivors won’t be around forever and it is our job to listen and learn their stories so that we may pass them on and tell them as our own. Our children won’t have the privilege of hearing survivors speak about their experiences. We can only tell our children, and the next generation, that we know the stories of many amazing men and women who survived the Holocaust. Magen David Yeshivah gave us that opportunity.
The students had an opportunity to learn the stories of many wonderful people. Although I did not know them personally before the program, I feel like I know them now. Mimi Singer related her story about the time she spent in Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen and how she was liberated by the English. She related her tale on a video brought in by our very own faculty member Shaindy Singer Steinberg. Magen David student Ezra Harary said “I liked it. The video was great and I loved being able to see a real survivor.”
The stories of Chaim Baumstein, Helena Wisnicki, Clair Berkovits Grunwald, and Dr. Gizelle Pearl were also shared with the students.
The students were also extremely fortunate to have the chance to meet an incredible lady by the name of Elly Berkovitz Gross. Elly expressed her story with such passion and detail that she made everyone feel as though they were there. She spoke about how she lost her father, mother and brother and about how she became ill working at a German company.
She spoke about her time spent in the concentration camps, all her suffering, what she did to stay alive and about the miracles that saved her life. We watched a video of her on 60 Minutes, where she told the story of the lawsuit she participated in against specific German companies and their compensation to the Jewish people who where forced to work as free labor slaves. Although she says justice can never be done for what happened.
When asked about her thoughts on the program, student Renee Tabache adds, “The Yom Hashoah program was extremely moving. The speaker shared a great deal of her life in the camps and made me grateful for the life I have.”
Most of these survivors stories go untold and over time they are lost. I can proudly say that the students of Magen David can pass some of them on for generations and keep the memory of these heroic men and women alive. It will never be the same as a person who truly lived through the Holocaust telling the story, but it is our job as the youth of the Jewish nation to make sure these survivors and the tragedies they endured are never forgotten.
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Sarah Gothelf is a senior at Magen David Yeshivah High School.
