BOSTON, MASS. (Issued March 2015) — The winner of a Holocaust-themed essay contest will be awarded a scholarship to participate in a unique teen heritage trip – March of the Living (MOTL) – which brings teens from around the world to visit Nazi concentration camps in Poland and to tour modern Israel. All essay contest winners will receive a trip to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
The creator of the winning essay will be introduced at New England’s annual Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah) ceremony on Sunday, April 12, at 10:30 am at Faneuil Hall, Boston. The featured speaker will be author and professor David Eisenhower, grandson of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 5-star general who served as Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe during World War II.
The 9th Annual Israel Arbeiter Holocaust Essay Contest, open to students in grades 6-12, is named for 89 year-old Holocaust survivor Israel ‘Izzy’ Arbeiter of Newton, a lifelong rights activist who lost many family members in the Holocaust. Izzy is a past president of the American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors of Greater Boston. The essay theme is: Discuss a time in your life when you took a side, or you wish you had taken a side, when you witnessed an injustice.
The goal of March of the Living is for young people to learn the lessons of the Holocaust and to lead the Jewish people into the future vowing “Never again.” Since 1988, MOTL has taken 250,000 teens on this trip. Last April, 14,000 teens from 45 countries participated. The New England delegation participates in March of the Living every other year. Chairman of MOTL’s New England Chapter is Irv Kempner of Sharon.
Scholarships are available. The Kempner Family Foundation will match all donations of $1,000 or more so that any teen from Massachusetts who wishes to join with the New England delegation will be able to do so. All donations are tax deductible and may be sent to: CJP–Kempner Family Foundation, c/o CJP, 126 High Street, Boston, Mass. 02110. To ensure proper credit, on the memo line, write “March of the Living.” For more info: www.motl.org
The April 12 program is being coordinated by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston (JCRC), Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Facing History and Ourselves, the American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors of Greater Boston, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and many generous donors.
– Stanley Hurwitz / [email protected]
