The BPY commemoration of Yom Hazikaron kicked off Tuesday night with a community wide program. The BPY middle school students, under the guidance of Morah Adi Abebe created a moving and powerful presentation that explored the lives of some of our lost heroes through the songs t written about them. After being welcomed by Rabbi Zucker, the students set the tone for this special evening. After a moment of silence, there was a mixture of narration, video clips, songs, movement and reenactments. A special thank you to Rav Ilan Acoca for reciting Yizkor and Rav Yaakov Wacks for singing a beautiful rendition of “Kel Maleh.”
The elementary school and middle school students participated in age appropriate assemblies on Wednesday. A special thank you to Yosi Abramson, a former IDF soldier who helped students truly understand life in the IDF. Each assembly started with a moment of silence. In first and second grade, the children heard some personal stories about life in the army. Through these stories, the children learned about the camaraderie and the way that soldiers take care of each other.
Abramson explained how the army taught him what a real hero is! The third to fifth graders focused on the feeling of brotherhood and how soldiers work together and take care of each other. Through his personal stories, students had a glimpse of what it was like to be a hero for someone who depends on you and trusts you.
During the middle school assembly, Abramson shared his story of his experience as a soldier during Operation Protective Edge and shared what it felt like to be under attack and what happened to him and his friend. Abramson’s hand was injured and one of the impacts was that he was no longer able to play music. He had to give up on his dream of being a musician. A few years after his injury, an organization named RESTART gave him the unique opportunity to be a part of Makers for Heroes, which is an organization that creates inventions tailored specifically to injured IDF soldiers. A special invention was made specifically for Abramson so that he could use his hand to play instruments. The take away for the middle school students was not to give up even when things seem bad and to look for the light at the end of the tunnel.
