For the last two months, the fifth-grade students have been studying about Righteous Gentiles, those non-Jews who helped save the lives of Jews during the Holocaust. The students began by reading the book, “Number the Stars,” by Lois Lowry, which tells the story of a non-Jewish family in Denmark who worked diligently and with great bravery to protect their Jewish friends and neighbors during World War II.

Having begun to really understand the great merit of the Righteous Gentiles, students were then tasked with choosing an individual or couple found on the Righteous Among Nations database at the Yad Vashem website, researching their lives and understanding why they merited to receive their special designation. Students showed real creativity and sensitivity in designing museum-quality exhibits consisting of slideshows, letters, diary entries and videos—all based on the information they learned in their research. All the students did a wonderful job presenting their projects to their parents and the fourth graders the following day. They truly honored the lives of those wonderful people who helped save Jewish lives.