The Names, Not Numbers© project was created 13 years ago by Tova Fish-Rosenberg, and is in its fourth year at the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy. The annual project represents the culmination of a year-long effort of planning, preparation and hard work by the interview team, which comprises members of the school’s eighth-grade class.

Debbie Finkelstein, JKHA principal, said she derives great meaning from experiencing this process through the eyes of eighth graders, and witnessing their transformation from students merely doing a project, to individuals who are genuinely empathetic to the survivor experience and its affect on their lives.

This year’s event began with a private dinner honoring the Holocaust survivors who had been interviewed and their families, together with the Kushner production teams and faculty advisors. Remarks at the dinner were delivered by students Aviva Luxenberg and Hannah Mamet.

The film documents the personal interviews of eight Holocaust survivors, as well as the roles, efforts and cameo interviews of the 47 eighth graders who elected to participate in the project. The students were universal in expressing their awe at the determination of the survivors to meet their challenges head-on and to persevere in the face of terrifying circumstances and dubious odds of survival. They were also unified in how this exposure to first-hand experiences of survivors gave them a much greater appreciation and respect for the survivors as individuals and collectively. The students noted how this project has impacted their own lives with the resounding message of “never forget,” and the imperative to actively combat the world’s bullies and would-be perpetrators of hate and genocide.

Daniel Simon of Livingston stated, “Names, Not Numbers© means to me that everybody is equal and everyone is a person, and they should be referred to as equals and not as a number on their arm.”

Rebecca Nussbaum from West Orange said, “I interviewed Rose Holm. It was apparent to me that she was so strong to have survived what she went through, and she never gave up. She was tough and stood up for who she was.”

The students went through briefings and training, and were assisted by seasoned professionals, filmmaker Mikaela Floom and Cari Strassberg, television producer and journalist.

Eliana Klibanoff of Livingston noted, “If you are reading a book or watching a movie, you can’t ask questions about what they said, but through Names, Not Numbers©, I was able to ask my own questions and learn about the Holocaust from their point of view.”

The students learned how to compose, deliver and respond to interview questions, and also do the research necessary to properly prepare for interviews.

Ethan Moses from West Orange commented, “It is important to interview Holocaust survivors because through the [live] interview you can see first-hand their feelings, emotions and their true identity of how they were during the Holocaust.”

The students also learned how to operate filming equipment and edit recorded material. The film was a masterful creation that would never be assumed to be the product of a group of eighth graders.

The production is of such high quality and significance that the movie has been accepted for inclusion in the archives of The National Library of Israel in Jerusalem, Yad Vashem and Yeshiva University’s Gottesman Library, according to Finkelstein.

The “Better Together: Names, Not Numbers©” program is generously supported by a prominent national foundation, and also has many additional generous sponsors, including the Arie and Eva Halpern Foundation. Numerous dedications in honor and in memory of other survivors, and those who perished, also support this project.

As creators and producers of the project, Fish-Rosenberg and her husband, Dov Rosenberg, have made it a priority in their lives to facilitate this project, which they feel is essential to educating both children and adults about Holocaust history, and preserving the life experiences of survivors in perpetuity.

The community clearly agrees with them, as a near-capacity crowd filled the Kushner auditorium for the presentation, and applauded both the efforts of the students and the courageous life choices of the survivors.

By Ellie Wolf