Eva Gidalowitz, Bruriah class of 2021, spoke at the Bruriah Alumni Event program with excitement, humility and gratitude for her education and experience as a Bruriah student. As the manager of her junior class Holocaust Museum tzedakah project, she also described her initial apprehension, which evolved into feelings of surprise and accomplishment when she and her classmates delivered on their goal of raising 1.5 million pennies as a memorial tzedakah honoring the memories of the 1.5 million children who had perished in the Holocaust. She ultimately spearheaded the raising of thousands of dollars more.
What did they do with these funds? They learned that a small developing community near Kever Rachel, with children in the neighborhood, had no playground. So they embarked on the project of doing whatever it would take to purchase, plan and install a playground for those children. Not a small project, and certainly not the average project of a then-11th grade high school class!
Fast forward to last spring when the playground was finally completed. Many of the students, as well as the Bruriah Annual Holocaust Museum faculty advisor and educator Joel Glazer, joined with family in Israel to dedicate the playground in memory of the 1.5 million children murdered in the Holocaust. A beautiful photo was taken, accompanied by a story in the March 2, 2022, issue of The Jewish Link.
Step in Erika Sauerhoff, hidden child Holocaust survivor, who feels a special connection to Kever Rachel because of a letter her father sent to her mother, z”l while he was incarcerated in a work camp where he later perished. “Take care of the children,” he wrote. Those words have resonated with her since she discovered the letter, but became more poignant after she visited Kever Rachel in 1970. Once she saw the photo last year and realized that now “the children are returning,” she felt inspired, with Glazer’s involvement, to transform the photo into a plaque, which was mounted and dedicated with great enthusiasm at Bruriah’s Alumni Event program on Sunday.
Bruriah Principal Dr. Bethany Strulowitz’s remarks highlighted briefly the history of the school, and how each former principal had left their unique mark on its development and progress until today. “The event showcased the very best of a Bruriah education. Since its founding in 1963, Bruriah has cultivated within its students an ability to dream big and then go and make it so, for oneself as well as for Klal Yisrael. What better example in our storied legacy than that of Mr. Glazer and the class of 2021 building a playground for the Kever Rachel community. It was a truly remarkable accomplishment that future Bruriah students can strive to emulate.” She also noted that Glazer would be returning to the school to teach some specialized classes as well.
Dr. Rivka Teitz Blau, keynote speaker, recounted the legendary vision of her father, Rav Pinchas Mordechai Teitz, zt”l, vanguard of his time in 1940, proposing the idea of higher education for girls in Elizabeth. She also expounded on the school’s amazing legacy.
Concluding the program, Gidalowitz, on behalf of her class, presented Glazer with a token of their appreciation for his leadership and guidance with the Annual Holocaust Museum, for challenging them to take on the tzedakah project, and encouraging them to see it through.
Notwithstanding Glazer’s inimitable sense of humor, he paused to remark seriously that he viewed himself as, “…the bandleader, while it was the students who actually made the music.” Sharing some of his thoughts, Glazer expressed, “I was so taken by the memories that were elicited from the people who took the time to come to Bruriah for the event. Looking at the plaque on the wall and knowing that the playground will exist at Kever Rachel for the children of Israel, will hopefully [continue to] inspire Bruriah teachers and students to do things that make life meaningful.”
Glazer’s son Harry, Middlesex community editor for The Jewish Link, added his comments about the event. He said that his father is particularly proud of the class of 2021 for raising the funds to build the playground at Kever Rachel. “Teaching at Bruriah, and challenging his 11th grade students to apply their many talents to his assignments, was an abiding passion in my dad’s life. I am delighted that Bruriah honored this class…and the teacher who inspired them, my dad.”
By Ellie Wolf
