Each year at Bruriah, the students are tasked with a significant, sacred responsibility: to design, curate and guide the Holocaust museum, a renowned tradition established decades ago by longtime Bruriah history teacher Joel Glazer. Each year since its inception, Bruriah students devote themselves wholeheartedly to this meaningful endeavor.

This year’s exhibit, curated by the sophomore class, is an immersive experience, guiding the viewer through time as the atrocities progressed from pre-war Europe to World War II to the Holocaust, its spiritual resistance and finally the postwar period. This year’s museum explores the important themes of bystanders and collaborators in understanding the obligation of a person to interfere when they see injustice being committed. Students wrote well-researched short essays and designed stunning personal projects including art and poetry.

Bruriah Assistant Principal Debbie Bornstein explained, “Every single contribution is meaningful and valued because the students really took ownership over the museum. They collaborated on a vision and saw it through to completion.” Sophomore Michal Ash added, “While there was no obligation to be a curator or a docent, we are all giving of our free time because we understand the magnitude of this responsibility.” For sophomore Sarah Menashe, like many others, this project was particularly personal: “I had family members go through the Holocaust. This project gave me a deeper understanding of their experiences.”

On Wednesday, the museum was visited by the Elizabeth Mayor J. Christian Bollwage, along with Rav Elazar M. Teitz, the rav ha’ir of Elizabeth. Mayor Bollwage was extremely impressed with the quality of the museum, the professionalism and comportment of each of the students who presented, and the rich education Bruriah offers its students through meaningful programs like this.