On Monday evening, May 15, The Moriah School hosted their annual Names, Not Numbers© event at The Frisch school for a crowd of over 700. Names Not Numbers chronicles the process of 64 eighth-grade students interviewing Holocaust survivors. This is the fifth year of the program.
The Names, Not Numbers program is an elective program for The Moriah School’s eighth grade. Students spend most of their school year preparing to conduct in-depth interviews of Holocaust survivors. Students prepared by learning from industry professionals including journalists, documentarists and video technicians. The students put in hours of rigorous practice enhancing their skills in all of these areas. When it came time to interview their subjects, the students were well prepared.
A group of eight students was assigned to each of the eight survivors. Students spent one hour with their survivors, asking them in-depth questions about their individual experiences. Each student also had the opportunity to experience each part of the process including interviewing, filming and audio management. It was clear from the quality of questions and video that the students really were passionate about the program.
Before the public screening, the eighth graders and their families celebrated the project at a private dinner ceremony. The students presented Awards of Appreciation to middle school English department head Rachel Schwartz, middle school coordinator Barbara Rotenberg and parent volunteer Abby Herschmann. Moriah staff members Rivkie Rube and Aliza Zeffren, Names Not Numbers creator Tova Rosenberg, filmmaker Sandra Stakic, and interview technique coach Sara Lee Kessler were also recognized for all of their hard work to make this program a success.
The primary goal of Names, Not Numbers is to preserve the legacy of Holocaust survivors among one of the last generations who will hear their story first-hand. The students took this project seriously, developing a deep appreciation for their Jewish heritage in the process.
The Moriah School (Englewood), one of the nation’s premier Jewish day schools, educates more than 700 students from across Bergen County. Moriah’s mission is to deliver an academic program of the highest caliber while instilling a sense of commitment to Torat Yisrael, Am Yisrael and Medinat Yisrael. Our school emphasizes the use of a variety of modalities in the classroom and beyond to enable each child to realize his or her potential in the spheres of academic, religious and personal growth.
