Faces of the future sing of shadows of the past
An audience of over 900 sat enraptured in the auditorium of Sydney’s Moriah College as a choir of 48 schoolchildren sang songs of the past to commemorate Yom HaShoah…remembering the Holocaust.
The Combined Children’s Choir under the baton of Joseph Toltz All photos; Henry Benjamin
The Years 4 and 5 children from Masada College, Emanuel School, Moriah College and Mt Sinai College emotively sang the lullaby from the opera Brundibar, Eli Eli and the national anthems. But the highlight of their performance was the arrangement of The Partisans’ Song which they sang entirely in Yiddish. The children were under the baton of Joseph Toltz whose arrangements were accompanied by Shirley Politzer [piano], Joseph Eisenger [cello] and Ben Adler [violin].
Dr David Silberklang from Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem was the evening’s main speaker. He focused on the history of the deportation of Jews from Greece, Corfu, Rhodes…and the major Nazi campaign to transport Hungary’s Jews to Europe’s death camps.
Jackie Seeman-Charak told the story of Righteous among Gentiles Hay Margit, responsible for securing the safety of her family.
Following the lighting of the candles, David Deutsch told the story of his grandfather, the late Cantor Michael Deutsch…a man who was an icon in Sydney’s Jewish community during his life.
The choir of 48 children aged 10 and 11 served as a reminder that the flames of the past are already in capable hands ensuring that the memories of those who perished will not be forgotten.
The evening was organised by the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies.
George Freuden OAM , Jay Fink (on behalf of Joe Schwarz), Robert Rind, Zola Seidler (on behalf of Magda Forbath), Paul Vertes, David Deutsch
Jackie Seeman-Charak
Dr David Silberklang
David Deutsch
