Community Torah Corner, November 8, 2024

As part of Golda Och’s 10th grade curriculum, each student is provided an opportunity to have meaningful conversations with Holocaust survivors and document their stories. I had the opportunity to participate in the “Class Adopt A Survivor” program where together with my classmates, I was privileged to interview Holocaust survivors Mark Schonwetter and Hanna Wechsler and create a project that told their stories in a creative way. My classmates and I decided to create a children’s book, where I was given the role of illustrator. I illustrated 26 different drawings that became the pages of this book. This process and ultimate project outcome inspired me to continue keeping the stories of the Holocaust alive through children’s books. 

Most recently, I collaborated with my Bubbie, an Emmy award winning writer in Cincinnati, Ohio, to start a children’s book series called “Upstander Stories.” This series aims to tell the stories of individual Holocaust survivors, focusing on upstanders and individuals who risked their own lives to save someone else’s. 

The first book of our series, which was published this past summer, tells the story of a girl named Anna whose survival is a result of a Muslim doctor named Dr. Helmy. Dr. Helmy hid her in and out of her house, employed her as a nurse in his office and continuously put his life on the line, lying to Nazi officers to protect her life. In 2013, Dr. Helmy was the first Arab to be recognized as Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem. 

As a senior at GOA, students complete an independent study project of their choice. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to continue my book series by devoting my project to our second book. This next book, which is in the making, will tell the story of survivor Zahava Rendler. Zahava Rendler, who was six months old when the war started, was taken in by a Catholic family who hid her for two years. This family lived in constant fear of the risks they were putting themselves at but continued hiding Zahava to ensure her survival. They were true upstanders. Interestingly enough, in my time interviewing Zahava, I came to learn that she was my dad’s 4th grade Hebrew teacher at his Jewish day school in Cincinnati. 

We hear about this similar idea of risk taking in this week's Torah portion Lech Lecha. God instructs Abraham to “get up and go” to leave the land he is familiar with and settle in a new land that God has set out for him. Abraham is an exemplar of one who takes risks, one who puts what he is comfortable with behind him for someone else’s sake. There are so many stories from our history as a Jewish people that include brave and courageous figures who jeopardized their lives to save someone else’s. I hope that my project series shares some of the many upstanders that have helped our people and help to ensure that Holocaust survivor’s stories are never forgotten.