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Jewish Community News
News: June 2006
Even the youngest remember on Yom HaShoah
By Shelley Leveson
The high-pitched, cheerful chattering at Yavneh Day School petered out quickly on Monday, April 24, as the children sensed that this wasn’t their standard morning Tefilah. Six yellow candles stood on the table at the front of Yavneh’s multi-purpose room, “One for each million Jews killed in the Holocaust,” explained Mrs. Abramson, head of school. Her normally upbeat voice was subdued as she addressed the group of students, ranging from tiny kindergarteners to adult-sized sixth graders, on this difficult topic. While the details were kept deliberately vague, the children clearly understood the import.
Rabbi Aaron Schonbrun of Congregation Beth David then asked the children
to name something they had tried to remember this past week, maybe something
they had lost. “A baseball card,” called out one eight-year-old
boy. “Okay,” said Rabbi Schonbrun, “Now why would you
want to remember this or something else you lost, maybe a favorite doll?”
“Because it’s important to you,” said another child.
“Exactly,” said Rabbi Schonbrun, “Now let me ask you
what is more important, a baseball card or a person?” “A person!”
answered all the children at once. With that opening, the rabbi went on
to explain that Yom Ha-Shoah is the day that we show that the six million
Jews that died in the Holocaust are important to us by remembering them.
Not a peep was heard as the children hung on his every word. He then tackled
the delicate subject of “mean people” in the world today and
asked the students to name another reason why it is important to remember
the Holocaust. “So it doesn’t happen again,” said one
six-year-old girl, matter-of-factly.
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