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Muzika
Young People Make a Connection
with the Holocaust
by Dafna Gallili
At the close of Holocaust Remembrance
Day, performing arts students gave a special and emotional
performance of Holocaust-related material, produced by Jerusalem’s
“Tzolelot” company. The pieces presented were original
instrumental, vocal, drama and dance compositions based on texts
from the book, These Are My Final Words (see page 7).
The goal of Project Muzika
(Music), organized by the International School for Holocaust
Studies, is to provide a link between young people and Holocaust
victims and survivors. How this connection is forged is left to
the participants, who choose the words that inspire them to create
a dramatic or dance presentation, a heavy rock rendition or a
piece of classical music.
The performance concluded an extended
educational-artistic program attended by the students at the
School’s Training Department, including informal seminars on the
Holocaust from the historic, national and personal perspectives.
Yifat Ziv, an 11th-grader from Jerusalem, chose
to sing a section from a letter written by Rozelka, a young woman
from Lvov, which ends with the words, “Life is horrible, but death
is many times worse.”
“I saw her as a girl with
aspirations,” Yifat explains. “I identified with her not only as a
Jew, but also as a young woman.” Other students chose texts
involving relationships between parents and their children,
questions of faith, and expectations and fears about the
future—all issues that absorb young people on a highly personal
level. Ya’ir Sari Levy composed music based on a letter written by
Julius Yosef to his son Arno: “I chose this piece because I loved
the resolve he expressed, the optimism during those most difficult
moments of their lives, the ultimate love between a father and his
son, the trust and faith in God.”
The performance was a moving one for
the audience—young people, the performers’ families, Holocaust
survivors and representatives from Yad Vashem. “Through music we
are attempting to connect with another world,” said composer and
performer Yuval Lev Ari, who also took part last year. “We take
the music we are familiar with—and if possible, add our own
feelings—and forge a bridge to a world past, in order to know and
experience the horror of that time.”
The author is Director of the
Junior High School and Projects Unit in the Training Department,
the International School for Holocaust Studies
Copyright ©2004 Yad Vashem The Holocaust
Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority |
