Aug 11, 2011

Jewish Educators Attend Holocaust Memorial Teacher Institute at Yad Vashem

Schools and synagogues represented were: Hillel Day School (Ben Lipson High School) North Miami Beach;Lehrman Day School, Miami Beach; Beth Torah Benny Rok Campus Hebrew School, North Miami Beach; Aventura Turnberry Hebrew School, Aventura; Donna Klein Hebrew Academy, Boca Raton and Bet Breira Samu-El Or Orlam, South Miami.

Over the summer, Jewish educators from Miami attended the Second Annual Holocaust Memorial Teacher Institute at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. Through a partnership between the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation and Yad Vashem’s International School for Holocaust Studies, the teachers were able to learn and bring home new techniques to teach the lessons of the Shoah to their students.

The International School for Holocaust Studies is interdisciplinary, multi-faceted and multi-directional and focuses on how Jews lived before, during and after the Holocaust. To engage all senses of the student, the school incorporates various techniques when teaching lessons about the Holocaust, including: art, music, literature, theology and drama. The educators – from many Miami area synagogue and day schools – studied for nine hours a day over the 10-day period to better understand the complexities and historical facts of the Holocaust.

“We learned so much in just ten days from a truly amazing group of historians, scholars and professors. I will use the knowledge gained from this seminar to assist my students towards a better understanding of the Holocaust, its roots, its aftermath and all that was lost because of it,” said Tiki Marks of Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center.

There are currently 16 Miami teachers who are a part of this growing affinity, which includes 10 teachers who participated last year. They will bring the latest materials and learning tools about the Shoah to their classrooms and make the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach a key venue and educational experience for their students.

“The educators spent many hours studying and experiencing the details of the Shoah. They are now better equipped to not only make an impact, but to teach their students the lessons of the most horrible period of our Jewish history,” said Rabbi Solomon Schiff, Chair of the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach.

Rabbi Schiff added, “These educators will become another vital force in educating our young students about the importance of remembering the Shoah.”

For more information about the Holocaust Memorial Teacher Institute, contact the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation at [email protected] or 305.538.1663.