To follow up on an important discussion post by   Vivian Awumey  on A Teenager’s Holocaust Diary Is Changing the Way We Interact With Online Exhibitions, a professional development opportunity is available to learn more about Yitskhok Rudashevski.

Echoes & Reflections will offer a free webinar Yitskhok Rudashevski: A Teenager’s Account of Life and Death in the Vilna Ghetto on November 18, 2024 at 4:00 PM ET.

There are additional posts about Teenage Holocaust Graphic Novel Diarists and Diaries of the Holocaust here on the TPS Teachers Network. 

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum provides valuable background on Children's Diaries during the Holocaust along with primary source material on Holocaust Diaries.

The following Critical Thinking Questions help frame discussion on this topic:

• Why are diaries an important part of the historical record?
• What makes children’s diaries distinct? What can we learn from them?
• How are some of these accounts different from that of Anne Frank?
  
  

  Yitskhok Rudashevski    Holocaust education    Teenage Diarists    Holocaust Diaries

The Southern Jewish weekly. (Jacksonville, FL) 18 Mar. 1949, p. 11. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn78000090/1949-03-18/ed-1/ 

One-hundred-and-fifty years ago, New York City's 92nd Street Y was founded as a community and performance center, an inclusive meeting place where people could go to make their lives more meaningful. A recent CBS Sunday Morning segment caught the attention of this former New Yorker who has great memories of the Y while growing up during my own teen years.

In the broadcast, correspondent Faith Salie talked with 92NY's CEO Seth Pinsky about its remarkable history, stemming from a simple mission. A group of German Jewish civic leaders saw a large number of Eastern European Jews coming to the United States. Recognizing that this population needed a home, a safe place, the leaders vowed to "create a Jewish version of the YMCA."

A Library of Congress item of interest includes The House on 92nd Street, a movie picture poster showing stars William Eythe, Lloyd Nolan, and Siigne Hasso. The actual 1945 film The House on 92nd Street is available here.

The house on 92nd Street. [S.l.: s.n] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2004666081/>

The Milstein Family Communal Archives Project (led by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research) also provides this overview of the 92nd Street Y.

By extension, a good number of YMCA resources can be found through the Library of Congress while a history of YMCAs is available here.

In an era where community bonds are increasingly vital, organizations like the YMHA, JCC's and YMCA's continue to play a crucial role in fostering social cohesion and individual development. These institutions have evolved far beyond their original missions to offer youth development programs, senior citizen services, family support initiatives, community health programs, career development resources while fostering community cohesion and addressing social issues. 

Please feel free to share how your local Y or Jewish community center has had a positive meaningful impact over the years. 

  Community Centers    Social Services    Senior Citizens    Youth Development    American Jews  

A Teenager's Holocaust Diary Is Changing the Way We Interact With Online Exhibitions | Smithsonian Voices | Smithsonian Affiliations Smithsonian Magazine

If your July 4 holiday travel plans find you in Michigan, be sure to visit an exhibit of the Jewish Historical Society of Michigan on view at the Detroit Historical Museum.

"In the Neighborhood: Everyday Life on Hastings Street" takes visitors on a walk back in history to Hastings Street’s time from 1880-1930 as an enclave for Detroit’s Jewish immigrants, where everyday life was full of the choices, adversities, innovations, triumphs, tensions, and synergies that defined this incomparable place.

Prior to 1930, Hastings Street, which later became a center for Black culture and commerce, was home to many immigrants, including working-class Jews who fled Eastern Europe driven by the terror and violence of antisemitism. This new exhibit, presented by Jewish Historical Society of Michigan, follows Jewish immigrants’ experiences from Europe to Detroit to Hastings Street. A fascinating blend of artifacts and storytelling gives visitors a rare peek into Jewish life of the period.

The Detroit Jewish News offers this writeup on the exhibit while Detroit Public Radio provides background on the Black Bottom section of the city where Jewish immigrants lived.

On a personal note, a family member contributed a samovar to the exhibit and our relative is featured in a video preview Behind the Hastings Street Exhibit.

Thank you for your interest in this important exhibit highlighting the history of the Detroit Jewish community.

  Jewish Historical Society of Michigan    Detroit Historical Museum     Museums     Jewish Americans  

2024 Days of Remembrance Commemoration

Next week (May 5-12) begins the 2024 Days of Remembrance, the nation’s annual commemoration of the Holocaust, established by Congress to honor victims and survivors.

The Days of Remembrance Commemoration will take place in the US Capitol’s Emancipation Hall on Tuesday, May 7 at 11:00 A.M ET.  The ceremony will be livestreamed here.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum makes resources available for groups planning to host such an observance including suggested readings, poster sets, videos, sample proclamations and more.

As a retired school librarian and Holocaust educator, I continue to support colleagues engaged in teaching this important and timely subject. I am glad to provide an updated Holocaust Learning Resources list with information about other Holocaust Remembrance observances taking place this month and throughout the year.

Thank you for your interest and support.

  Yom HaShoah    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum    Holocaust Education    Days of Remembrance  

Passover 2024 during the war - Why is this night different?

• "AND YOU SHALL TELL YOUR CHILDREN" Marking the Holiday of Passover Before, During and After the Holocaust (online exhibition from Yad Vashem - the Word Holocaust Remembrance Center)
• A Brief History Of The Maxwell House Haggadah (WGBH review of how the coffee company's Haggadah was introduced as a marketing promotion in 1932, becoming a cultural icon among American Jews)
• Can Jews sing ‘Dayenu’ while there are hostages? The Passover seder gets a post-Oct. 7 rethink (Jewish Telegraph Agency, March 5, 2024)
• The Haggadah of Hope: Bringing Israel and the Hostages into Your Seder this Year (guide from the Yeshiva University Sacks-Herenstein Center for Values)
• HIAS Haggadah (resource explores how matzah, called “the bread of our oppression” in the Haggadah, also becomes the “bread of liberation” this year) 
• Joel ben Simeon, the Washington Haggadah and the Ambivalent Feminine (Library of Congress recorded lecture by Professor Marc Michael Epstein, March 28, 2024)
• Passover Educational Companion (resource from the iCenter for israel Education helps tell the Passover story in the shadow of the multi-front war in the Middle East)
• Pesach | The National Library of Israel for Educators (primary sources & lesson plans for Passover)
• Taylor Swift-themed Haggadah released for this year’s Pesach (Jewish Chronicle, April 18, 2024)
• White House History Live: Passover Celebrations at the White House (a recorded discussion from 04/16/2024 of White House Passover observances over the years and presidential participation in the Jewish Feast of Freedom)

A page from the Taylor Swift Haggadah by Na'ama Ben-David and Shelley Atlas Serber (The Jewish Chronicle)

  Passover    Haggadah    Taylor Swift  

The Philadelphia Writing Project invites 3rd -12th grade teachers and university faculty to explore the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History’s exhibits and historical primary sources. Register here.

WHAT AND WHEN

"Intersections Between Jewish History and Labor History in America" — Tuesday, May 7, 2024, 5:00-7:00pm ET

WHERE

Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History

101 S Independence Mall E

PARTICIPANTS WILL RECEIVE

• Information about scheduling free field trips to the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History
• FREE after-hours museum admission
• ACT 48 credit
• Free Museum membership, including 10% discount in the gift shop

Library of Congress Esther Scroll made at the Bezalel School in Jerusalem

The Jewish holiday of Purim is a joyous one, commemorating the saving of the Jews from annihilation in 5th century BCE Persia. The story is recounted in the Book or Scroll of Esther (also known as the Megillah in Hebrew) where Esther, a young Jewish woman, plays the leading role in rescuing her people from a massacre at the hands of the evil villain Haman, advisor to Persian king Ahasuerus.

The word Purim means “lots” and refers to the mechanism by which Haman chose the date for the Jews’ destruction. The holiday is traditionally celebrated with wild abandon — costumes, drinking, feasting, revelry — and by reading the megillah (Scroll of Esther) and giving gifts to friends and the poor.

For Purim 2024, falling on March 23, here are some updated resources including Library of Congress primary source material and a reflection on the significance of the holiday during the current Israel Hamas War.

• Primary Sources About Purim from National Library of Israel
  Printable activities, videos, lesson plans & decorations are included. See, for example, this 1616 Illustrated Esther Scroll by Moshe ben Avraham Peshkarol from Ferrara, Italy with teaching materials.
• Purim Resources from NCSY
  Activities, infographics, text-based sessions, lesson plans and other materials related to Purim provided by National Conference of Synagogue Youth
• Lookstein Center Bar Ilan University Purim Resources
  Traditions around the world, lesson plans & activities, videos, songs, plays & skits, articles & texts.
• Marking the Holiday of Purim Before, During and After the Holocaust
  Photographs, artifacts and video from Yad Vashem (the World Holocaust Remembrance Center) including 1946 footage of Post-War Purim celebration in Children's Home in Amsterdam, Holland.
• Celebrating Purim, Bezalel-Style: The Hebraic Section Welcomes a New Acquisition
  4 Corners of the World: International Collections at the Library of Congress Blog post by Anchi Hoh, February 25, 2021
• Purim Holiday: The Library’s Esther Scrolls
  Timeless Stories from the Library of Congress Blog post by Neely Tucker,  March 2, 2023
• Carnival in Tel Aviv : Purim and the celebration of urban Zionism
  By Hizky Shoham Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2014. Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/2020718881/
• Esther and her times, in a series of lectures on the book of Esther
  By John Marshall Lowrie [Philadelphia, Presbyterian board of publication, 1859]. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, .
• Shalach monos
  Sheet music for Shalach monos or "Sending of portions/gifts" by Mogulesco, S and Joseph Rumshinsky. Hebrew Publishing Company, New York, New York, 1914. Notated Music. Retrieved from the Library of Congress,
• H.Res.976 - Commemorating the celebration of Purim by the Jewish community of the United States
  Summary notes about this resolution, introduced 03/11/2022 by Rep. Balderson, Troy [R-OH-12], mention "this resolution stands in solidarity with the Jewish community in the United States and throughout the world. The resolution also recognizes and celebrates the holiday of Purim and wishes the Jewish community a Chag Purim Sameach (Happy Purim in Hebrew) and ah freilichen Purim (Happy Purim in Yiddish)."
• How Jews are addressing the Megillah’s bloodiest chapter during wartime this Purim
  By Jackie Hajdenberg/JTA. The Jerusalem Post, March 15, 2024.
• How do we celebrate Purim in a time of mourning?
  By David I. Bernstein. Jewish Telegraph Agency, March 14, 2024.

This year, as we prepare to observe Purim, a normally joyous holiday, there is much to mourn: the terrible events of October 7, the incomprehensible suffering of the hostages being held by Hamas, the ongoing war and the daily toll it is taking along with a resurgence of Antisemitism in the United States and the many other tragic events taking place around the world.

Throughout history, the Jewish people have dealt with misfortune and adversity. Yet they move on, rather than focus only on the past. Survivors of the Holocaust managed to celebrate Purim in the immediate aftermath of the war, even in the Displaced Persons camps. They did not despair but instead chose to live life to the fullest, building a future for a better tomorrow.

Children in costume for the Purim holiday at the Landsberg DP camp, Germany, after World War II. (Yad Vashem Photo Archive)

  Purim    Jewish Holidays    Book of Esther    Antisemitism  

This discussion is inspired by an engaging project "Women’s History Commemoration Posts" shared here on the TPS Teachers Network by Cheryl Davis .

• America's Jewish Women: A History from Colonial Times to Today by Pamela Nadell (book discussion from National Archives)
• Celebrating Women's History Month: Jewish Women and Religious Innovation (from Jewish Women's Archive)
• Famous and Noteworthy American Jewish Women (from Cultural and Secular Jewish Organization)
• Go & Learn: Lesson Plans Exploring Experiences of American Jewish Women (from Jewish Women's Archive)
• Honoring Jewish American Women (presentation from National Women's History Museum)
• Jewish Women's History Month (My Jewish Learning provides listing of organizations that advocate and educate on behalf of women)
• Women's History Month | Holocaust Encyclopedia (from United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)
• Women of Valor (16 trailblazing Jewish women highlighted by Jewish Women's Archive)