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Visiting Shoah memorial at museum

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HANC’s eighth grade girls traveled to the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, on Dec. 24, part of the Names Not Numbers program created by Tova Rosenberg.

Dr. Paul Radensky, manager of educational programs, reviewed a timeline of events leading up to, during and at the end of the Holocaust.

The students, ccompanied by docents, saw many interesting things, including a b’samim box saved by a Jew in his bag. The docent explained how poignant this was because the Jews were only allowed to take one bag of items. That this b’samim box was one of those items was incredible. The students thought about what they would take if they were presented with the same scenario.

Another memorable item was the dress and bag that were sown after liberation, made from the pajamas/uniform she was given to wear during the Holocaust, an example of hope for the future and never forgetting the past.

The students were given pictures and asked to come up with what they thought was the story behind them.  One of the items discussed was a little comb. During the Holocaust a girl made this comb out of whatever she could find even though the Nazis had shaved her head. She wanted to remember what it was like to comb her hair and to be prepared for when she would once again have that opportunity.