Servant news
Middle School students conducted the first Yom Hashoah or Holocaust Remembrance Day chapel on Monday, April 12, commemorating the six million Jews killed by Nazis and their collaborators during World War II. Both seventh and eighth graders offered prayers and reflections during the memorial service. As students entered the darkened chapel, they heard the solemn reading of the names of Holocaust victims by Gillean Kelly and Evan Benitez-Young. Candles near the altar outlined the Star of David on the chapel floor while archival Holocaust photographs were shown on a screen. After an opening prayer by Julia Josowitz and Mandy Justiz, Ariela Zeifman delivered the Barechu or “Call to Worship” in Hebrew followed by the Shema read by Chaplain Ashley Brandon and Ashrei by Zachary Dell. Ten students then read excerpts from reflections from the eighth grade’s recent visit with Holocaust survivor Dr. Edith Eger at Agudas Achim Temple. They included Max Canon, Anna Worrell, Connor Loose, Alison Chang, Mason Trull, Jessie Hine, Annie Harris, Hayden Waugh, Callie Evarts, and DJ Bryant.
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” — Anne Frank Other students offering prayers included Irfan Alam, Maria Salazar, and Nick Molanphy. Juliette Dell sang the hopeful Aleinu and Richie Hojel closed with the Mourner’s Kaddish. Cellists Garrett Bishop and Patrick Koitzsch provided the chapel’s background music. Mrs. Brandon hopes that a student-led Yom Hashoah becomes a chapel tradition at St. Andrew’s. “Holocaust” is a word of Greek origin meaning “sacrifice by fire.” By 1945, at the end of the war, nearly two out of every three European Jews had perished. Yom Hashoah, observed worldwide, is intended to call attention to the inhumanity and evil that can result from hatred and intolerance. It also celebrates the amazing strength and endurance of the human spirit.
St. Andrew’s Episcopal School • www.sasaustin.org • 41