Throughout the week of Yom HaShoah, I had the privilege of accompanying my father to a number of local yeshiva day schools where he spoke with the students about his family’s story of survival during the Holocaust. I share this because, while much has been written in this and other publications about the issues facing our schools, such as the cost of tuition, vacation schedules, quality of education and questions of hashkafa, to name but a few, what we encountered on these visits were the most wonderfully behaved, respectful and engaged youngsters who were truly appreciative of being in the presence of a Holocaust survivor.

My father is an only child and to him family and Jewish children are everything. He tells everyone to call him Zadie because he feels that Jewish children belong to all of us. With so precious few children surviving the Holocaust, it wasn’t lost on us that we were the ones who had the special zechut of being in the presence of these beautiful neshamot. On a day like Yom HaShoah, even getting stuck on the carpool line is a huge bracha when you realize just how many children are laughing, playing and learning Torah in our community. Who would have dreamed of this not so long ago? I don’t mean to minimize the very real pressures that our young families face, and I do believe that Jewish education is a responsibility that we all share.

Spending Yom HaShoah in our yeshivot puts these issues into perspective and actually highlights our responsibility as a community to ensure that our children receive a Jewish education. However, watching my father, a Holocaust survivor, interact with these beautiful children showed me that despite the work we have ahead of us, we must be doing something right.

A very special hakarat hatov to the wonderful teachers, rabbeim, administrators and school staff who make educating our children their life mission, and in memory of the 1 1/2 million children who were murdered in the Shoah. May their memory be for a blessing.