On Tuesday, the Magid Campus commemorated Yom HaZikaron laShoah ve-laG'vurah (Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day) with a moving tekes (ceremony).

We were very fortunate to have survivor Joe Szwarcberg share his miraculous and harrowing testimony with us.

In honour of the assembly’s theme of Names, five students (alongside survivor Joe Szwarcberg) lit candles in memory of family members who perished in the Shoah, sharing their names, experiences, and legacy with us.

Jesse Z (Yr 9) read an excerpt in the original Yiddish from Aaron Zeitlin’s 1946 poem A Kholem fun nokh Maydanek (A dream after Majdanek), in which he recited the names of Jewish children, mourning their destruction.

Layla O (Yr 8) and Emma K-L (Yr 12) sang Isaiah Shpigl’s Makh Tsu Di Eygelekh (Close your little eyes), a beautiful Yiddish song written in the Lodz Ghetto which narrates a parent guiding their child through their terrifying circumstances. The two also led the School in a rousing rendition of the Partizaner Hymn (Partisan Song).

We also heard Geoff Garber recite El Male Rachamim and Gemma H (Yr 10) and Lev C-W (Yr 12) recite Elie Wiesel’s Kaddish L’Yom HaShoah (Mourner’s Kaddish for the Holocaust).

Thank you to Joe for sharing his remarkable experience with us, and to the committee of dedicated students who wrote, organised, and performed the assembly.

‍Written by Lennox B-I (Year 12)