In marking Tisha B’Av as a day of remembrance for the victims of the Shoah, the newly revamped Teaneck High School (THS) Holocaust Center, under the direction of Goldie Minkowitz, opened its doors to the community. The center hosts an online, streaming history of the Shoah, posters, timelines, artifacts and autographed memoirs. Special for the community are the personal, evocative tributes from local Teaneck residents to their relatives lost in the Holocaust. Also noteworthy are the letters by staff and students expressing gratitude to the host of Holocaust survivors who addressed student audiences at THS over many years.
Among the visitors to the center on Tisha B’av was Ahrona Ohring, widow of noted Teaneck sculptor Milton Ohring z”l, who passed away on March 5, 2023. Accompanying her were sons Noam and Avi and Avi’s wife Rochelle. In 2013, Ohring generously donated one of his Holocaust-themed sculptures to the THS Library where it stands on a base adjacent to the extensive Holocaust library dedicated to THS. The sculpture entitled “Kevarim Vaksin Daw,” graves grow here, consists of individual stones representing the little villages which were emptied of their Jewish residents through cruel torment and eventual annihilation. The sculpture was created in memory of the killing fields of Poland. The Ohrings were visibly touched by the inclusion of their husband and father’s artistry in the center.
Shortly before his passing, Ohring and Ahrona, who encouraged him throughout his professional and artistic life, donated a second sculpture to THS’s newly remodeled Holocaust Center. In keeping with his engineering background, Ohring created a steel cube on which every surface he engraved a mathematical equation equalling the notorious number six million. One surface reflects the number engraved on the arm of a dear friend of the Ohrings, a survivor of Auschwitz.The sculpture resides on a base alongside the wall featuring the ongoing narrative of the Holocaust at the center.
The community visitors on Tisha B’Av felt that their visit to the center added meaningfully to the day’s mood and purpose and they hope to recommend a visit to their friends and neighbors.
To schedule a visit to the THS Holocaust center during August contact Pearl Markovitz at [email protected] or Aliza Rabinowitz at [email protected]
