Students at Westchester Torah Academy commemorated Yom HaShoah last Thursday in a special ceremony dedicated to the theme of כל ישראל ערבים זה לזה. The program highlighted two true and personal stories of Jews who risked their own lives to help and save other Jews through small but meaningful actions. In the first story, a young woman agreed to jump off the train headed to a death camp. She survived and was able to save a young couple by hiding them for 13 months. In the second story, a mother and daughter decided to give the small amount of chocolate they smuggled to the concentration camp to a pregnant woman who was in need of nourishment. Each person in attendance received a small piece of chocolate; they were challenged to find an opportune moment to eat it or give it to someone else.

The students who led the ceremony through narration, role play and singing presented in front of their peers in grades four to eight and parents who attended the fifth grade Immigration Fair. Middle school teachers lit six candles in memory of family members and others who perished in the Shoah and Morah Deganit and Rabbi Avi recited the tefilot יזכור and אל מלא רחמים.

Following the Yom HaShoah ceremony, students in fifth grade presented a beautiful Immigration Fair to parents and grandparents. Each student was tasked with researching an artifact or heirloom from their family’s history. Their incredible stories added to the meaning and importance of a day on which we take time to remember our past as the Jewish people.

Middle schoolers also had the opportunity to hear from Sami Steigmann, a Holocaust survivor, who shared his story and an inspirational message of hope and resilience.