HAFTR students visit a ‘living memorial’

Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway (HAFTR) Middle School seventh graders visited the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Manhattan on April 12. The students experienced many emotions as they walked through the “living memorial.”

The tour guides were all women who were either children of Holocaust survivors or survivors themselves. The students displayed empathy and made a connection to the tour guide, hanging on her every last words. Their eyes glued to each and every exhibit.

A presentation about pre-Holocaust Jewish Europe and the thriving community that existed prior to the rise of Nazi Germany was presented. The tour moved to the second floor and focused on the Holocaust. The students viewed several video clips of survivors’ testimony, which generated tears.

Miriam, the tour guide said: “They tried to take away our names and replace them with numbers, we didn’t let them. We are all here today because our ancestors never stopped believing in [God] and held on to hope.”

The museum pays tribute to those who died by celebrating their lives, treasuring their traditions, identifying their achievements and faith, and affirming today’s vibrant Jewish community that is their legacy.