Thank you for joining JCRC its partners for the 2017 Community Holocaust Commemoration of Yom HaShoah
Raising Our Voices: Music, Art, and Remembrance
Featuring Speaker Rabbi Joseph Polak
R
abbi Joseph Polak’s memoir, “After the Holocaust the Bells Still Ring“, to which Elie Wiesel wrote the Forward, won the prestigious National Jewish Book Award. He is a child survivor of two concentration camps, the Emeritus Rabbi of the Florence & Chafetz Hillel House at Boston University, and Chief Justice of the Rabbinical Court of Massachusetts.
JCRC was proud to honor Founder Charlotte Sheer and Director Jamie Droste with the Leadership in Holocaust in Education Awards for their creative, compassionate and groundbreaking work in teaching others about the importance of standing up for injustice through the Holocaust Stamps Project.
Foxborough Regional Charter School’s Holocaust Stamps Project began in 2009, when Charlotte Sheer (L),challenged her 5th grade students to collect one cancelled postage stamp for every life lost during the Holocaust.
The Project grew to a school-wide community service learning initiative, using thousands of donated stamps to assemble collage-style artwork depicting Holocaust-related themes.
Since Sheer’s retirement, Director Jamie Droste (R) has used the same guiding principles that first established the project, and to date, her students have collected over 9 million stamps and are on the path to reaching their goal of collecting 11 million.
For eight years, the Holocaust Stamps Project has served as a springboard for using world history to teach tolerance, acceptance, and respect for differences. Both Sheer and Droste have have opened the minds and hearts of students, teachers and community members, inspiring colleagues to bring their teachings into their own classrooms.
Read the Times of Israel’s coverage of
Yom HaShoah
Read the Country Gazette’s write up of awardees Charlotte Sheer and Jamie Droste
With musical and cantorial
participation by:
Cantor Michael McCloskey, Temple Emeth, Dorot
Zimra Musical Leader
Noah Abraham, Gann Academy, HaZamir
Cantor Vera Broekhuysen, Temple Emanu-El, Haverhill
Ness Burger, Sharon High School, HaZamir
Bryce Casey, HaZamir Sabrina Casey, HaZamir
Cantor Lisa Doob, Temple Isaiah of Lexington
Cantor Aryeh Finkelstein, formerly of
Congregation Mishkan Tefila
Maayan Haarel, Hebrew College, Cantorial student
Cantor Becky Khitrick, Temple Sinai of Sharon
Yonatan Freedman- Naditch, Meridian Academy,
Boston, HaZamir
Rabbi Beth Naditch, Hebrew Senior Life, Chaplain
Cantor Ken Richmond, Temple Israel of Natick
Dara Rosenblatt, Hebrew College, Cantorial Student
Cantor Ilana Rozenfeld, Congregation
Shirat Hayam, Swampscott
Jinny Sagorin, Hebrew College, Cantorial Student
Matt Silva, Gann Academy, HaZamir
Benji Sokol, Gann Academy, HaZamir
Sam Sokol, Metrowest Jewish Day School, HaZamir
Rav-Chazzan Scott Sokol, Temple Beth Sholom of Framingham/Metrowest Jewish Day School,
Head of School
Joe Strassler, Kol Arev, Hebrew College
Rabbi Moshe Waldoks, Temple Beth Zion
Download the winning essays from the 1th annual Israel Arbeiter Holocaust Essay Contest
Phaidra Martin, Medford High School
Upper Division, 2nd place (PDF)
Ryan Edwards, Rupert A. Nock Middle School, Newburyport
Lower Division, 1st place (PDF)
See photos and highlights from our 2016 Yom Hashoah Commemoration
