For the fourth straight year, Joel Glazer, American History teacher at Bruriah, arranged a personalized tour of the National Museum of American Jewish History (NMAJH) in Philadelphia for a select group from his 11th grade American History classes so they could gain first-hand knowledge of how to curate a museum of their own in Bruriah.
The NMAJH focuses on Jewish life in Europe and America throughout the past century. Bruriah’s museum staff experienced the museum through the lenses of visitors to a museum and also as curators.
This year’s Holocaust Remembrance Museum was curated by Judith Wechter. Under her direction and with the assistance of a support staff the junior hallways of Bruriah were transformed into a Holocaust museum, replete with newspaper headlines, original works and installations. All installations are created for the sole purpose of filling this museum.
The museum comes as a culmination of the World War II unit in history class. Each of the four junior classes was responsible for a different section of the museum: pre-war, during the war, post-war and the modern State of Israel. Additionally, the museum staff includes special projects The museum followed major headline events that took place worldwide, from the signing of the Treaty of Versailles at the end of World War I, to the American embassy moving to Jerusalem last year. The juniors created the headlines along with projects to depict the atrocities of the Holocaust and the formation of the State of Israel.
Each year there is a fundraising project in connection with the Holocaust Museum. This year’s fundraising chairs were Abi Ezra and Sara Shuman, who selected the Mrs. Newman Scholarship Fund and the Daffodil Project as recipients of all money raised. In addition, the students also designed a spiritual resistance section, headed by Kayla Goldstein, that demonstrated the Jew’s determination to cling to their religious faith, even in the face of great adversity. Rounding out the staff are assistant curator, Bracha Gluck and docents, Daniella Strauss, Ateret Witty, Chaviva Altmark and Avigayil Zupnik. Visitors to the museum included J. Christian Bollwage, mayor of Elizabeth, who commented on twitter that, “The students of Bruriah School did a fantastic job on their annual Holocaust Museum exhibit—a very moving, historical tribute skillfully presented by the students.” The RPRY eighth graders toured Bruriah’s museum at the end of their own Holocaust unit in school. Much of the museum is currently archived. In May, the museum will go on the road to Pittsburgh for a Yom HaShoah program.
The brainchild of esteemed history teacher Joel Glazer, the museum evolved after a near-private audience in 2005 with then-prime minister of Israel Ariel Sharon. On a group tour sponsored by the OU that included a meeting with Sharon, Glazer found himself seated next to the prime minister. In response to Sharon’s question, “Does anyone have any questions?” Glazer asked Sharon how he could deal with the way the media outlets portray Israel. Sharon replied, “We’re responsible to keep you safe, you’re responsible for getting out the truth.”
Thank you to the hardworking museum staff and all the Bruriah juniors for all the hard work you put in to make this museum as incredible and meaningful as it was!
