HAFTR travels to Jewish heritage museum

Seventh graders from the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockways visited the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Manhattan last week.

The tour guides were all women who were either children of survivors or survivors themselves. The students displayed empathy to their guide, Miriam, hanging on her every word. They walked through the memorial with their eyes glued to each exhibit. 

The tour began with an introduction to pre-Holocaust Jewish Europe and its thriving community. The students viewed a beautiful picture of a Jewish wedding that took place in Germany before Hitler’s wrath, representing the normality of life — celebration, family and religious practice.

Many students were surprised to see that the German Jews had “regular” lives before the Nazis. They were drawing connections to their own lives through the pictures, artifacts and exhibits displayed.

The second floor of the museum centered on the Holocaust era. The students viewed several video clips of survivors’ testimony; this was quite heavy, bringing many of our students to tears. They saw propaganda used by the Nazis to create anti-Semitism throughout the nation. They reacted to a board game played by German children, where the object was to eliminate the Jews. All were horrified at how telling this was that the German children were methodically brainwashed to hate. 

Our emotional roller coaster ended on the third floor, post-Holocaust and the Jewish Diaspora. As we rode up the escalator the students were silent, affected by the harsh realities of the second floor. Miriam, our tour guide, broke the silence, she 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 Hashem and held on to hope.”

Attention was turned to eighteen trees growing out of eighteen tremendous rocks. Miriam explained, many did not think that the Jewish Nation would survive the Holocaust, saying it would be impossible to withstand the Nazi power … they were wrong. She explained that the impossible can be made possible with dedication, drive and emunah to Hashem. It is impossible for trees to grow out of rock or granite, but with hard work and dedication this was made possible. Eighteen — chai — trees are growing out of rock, just as the Jewish nation continues to grow. 

The mus0eum pays tribute to those who died by celebrating their lives, treasuring their traditions, identifying their achievements and faith, and affirming the very much alive Jewish community that is their legacy today. This was all taken in through the eyes of our students and into their hearts. It was an amazing trip.