Last week on Yom Ha’Shoah, a day to remember the devastation and destruction of the unspeakably painful years of the Holocaust that took the lives of the six million kedoshim, the RYNJ middle school participated in a meaningful program: Shuls of the Shoah: From Ruin to Rebirth.

Led and narrated by RYNJ students, the entire division learned about six prominent cities in Poland, Germany and Czechoslovakia: Warsaw, Bialystok, Lomza, Frankfurt, Prague and Berlin. After describing the cities and their respective facets of Jewish life, students focused on their distinguished shuls, emphasizing Jewish rebirth in various locations around the world, leading back home to Bergen County.

After students studied the rich pre-war Jewish life and the rebirth in the decades that have followed, students took a virtual tour of all the cities and shuls using Google Earth, ending in our hopeful soon-to-be-destination, Eretz Yisrael. Finally, the students watched a powerful takeaway message from renowned rav and historian, Rabbi Berel Wein.

Eighth grade students also had the opportunity to join a live event hosted by The Museum of Jewish Heritage. They watched and heard from survivor Celia Kener as she shared her captivating life story before, during and after the Holocaust. From her tremendous challenges as a young girl in Poland, to becoming a hidden child and ultimately to surviving the Holocaust and making her way to America where she attended Barnard, married and started her family. Her legacy is seven grandchildren and seven great grandchildren!

May this remarkable rebirth continue to serve as an everlasting merit for the six million kedoshim. Through their incredible faith and strength, they instilled within us an appreciation and passion to live Torah-devoted lives in resilient service of Hashem. May their memory be a blessing.