Last Thursday, TABC commemorated Yom HaShoah with a school-wide assembly, which included hearing from a survivor of the Shoah, Paul Galan. TABC senior Eliyah Avishur opened the program with words on the importance of the day and its links to Pesach and shibud mitzrayim. Following Eliyah’s remarks, six students lit candles in honor or memory of their relatives who survived the Shoah. Introduced by Zachery Jerome, students Noah Beckoff, Michael Riskin, Eitan Laub, Betzalel Kanarek, Kivi and Shmuli Davis, and Shua Schloss told inspiring stories of the perseverance and survival of their relatives. Senior Daniel Brauner read the poem “Giant Leap” by Sonia Weitz which was followed by two songs sung by students and led by music teacher Jacob Spadaro. The highlight of the program was a moving speech by Shoah survivor Paul Galan. Students and faculty were captivated by Galan’s story of how he and all of his immediate family escaped the Shoah through a series of miraculous events. Born in former Czechoslovakia, Galan and his parents came to the United States when he was a teenager. He was a film director and producer and now serves as a member of the Board of Trustees and co-president of the Holocaust Museum and Study Center located at Rockland Community College in Suffern, New York. The program concluded with Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Yosef Adler’s moving recitation of the “Kel Maleh Rachamim.”