Lianne Lewis, an 8th grader at The Epstein School, was shocked at how easily Nora Lewin and Ruth Siegler, both Holocaust survivors, shared their story with her. "They were so willing to let the world know exactly what they went through," Lewis explains. She is one of 85 middle school students at Epstein who were involved all year with 23 Holocaust survivors, to hear their stories first-hand through personal interviews and sharing holidays together.

Eliana Lauter, another Epstein 8th grader explains, "Ten years ago, many survivors were not ready to talk about the Holocaust. Now they are. They have lessons to teach us. They are showing us how to stay strong and keep our faith in Judaism."

"They could relate to us because we are the future," adds Jeffrey Draluck, another 8th grader at Epstein.

These are just a few of many meaningful exchanges between two very different generations as a result of The Epstein School's Shachar Project where teams of 7th and 8th graders were paired with a Holocaust survivor to learn about their lives after liberation, with emphasis on heroic triumphs, not the horror stories. In Hebrew, shachar means new dawn.

"It's not just my story. It's our collective narrative that must survive the survivors," says Murray Lynn, another Shachar Project participant. Many of the survivors are from

"For the rest of their lives, our students can say that they met these remarkable people first hand and heard their stories while the opportunity still existed," says Stan Beiner, Epstein's Head of School. 

The Epstein School is one of Federation's local beneficiary agencies, and received an allocation of $341,431 in FY04.