MTA seniors who participated in a nine-day trip to Poland led by the “Names, Not Numbers©” organization earlier this year, coordinated a meaningful school-wide Yom HaShoah program. Students described their experience visiting Polish towns with rich Jewish histories and touring concentration camps with Holocaust survivor Dov Landau. Senior Akiva Cooper shared a slideshow chronicling the entire journey and compared the thriving Jewish life that existed in Poland before the Holocaust to the communities we live in today to help students better understand the magnitude of the destruction.

Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Taubes, who accompanied students on the Poland trip, discussed the impact the Holocaust has on Jews today. “On Yom HaShoah we mourn the terrible loss of life, but we also have a responsibility,” said Rabbi Taubes. “We are a living testimony to the fact that Nazis were not successful. Everything they tried to destroy is still here. We daven every day and we keep Torah and mitzvos and that is the biggest revenge.” The program culminated with a moment of silence followed by students and rebbeim singing “Ani Ma’amin” together.