Rabbi Pesach Raymon Yeshiva students are taking part in the nationally recognized and award-winning ”Names, Not Numbers®” program, an interactive, multi-media Holocaust project created by educator Tova Fish-Rosenberg, which gives participating students the opportunity to interview and film Holocaust survivors in person. Highlighting the importance of “Names, Not Numbers®” in her introduction to the students, Mrs. Rosenberg spoke about the urgency of creating an oral history of the tragedy of the Holocaust. She emphasized the students’ responsibility to the witnesses for future generations.

As an essential part of the “Names, Not Numbers®” program, students visited the Holocaust exhibit at CHHANGE, Center for Holocaust, Human Rights, and Genocide Education at Brookdale Community College, on Wednesday, November 20. The exhibit, “The Holocaust: Journeys Beyond Genocide—The Human Experience,” is divided into several sections, with each section challenging the students with a specific question, such as “How Do Individuals Facing Danger Choose to Resist, Rescue, Collaborate, or Do Nothing?,” “How Do Individuals and Countries Respond to Genocide?,” “How Can Human Beings Be So Evil?” and “How Can People of Different Backgrounds or Beliefs Live Peacefully as Neighbors?”

Students viewed and discussed the exhibits, which included learning the stories of local Holocaust survivors through primary sources such as survivor interviews, preserved letters, photographs and treasured artifacts saved from destruction. A highlight of the visit was a presentation by a local survivor, Mrs. Claire Boren, who had participated in the RPRY “Names, Not Numbers®” a few years ago. Her talk with the students focused on her feelings and how her art has helped her cope with the trauma of being a child survivor.

The exhibits and presentations by the docents Dale Daniels, Mimi Werbler and Susan Yellin emphasize the survivors’ resilience and courage.