TBA students commemorate Kristallnacht with creative window project

Photo Courtesy of Tina Greenberg Pictured with their window creations are 7th-grade JLP students, from left, Dylan Mendez, Tyler and Jade Gelman of West Orange, Reese Giller, Jake Lederman, Jack Dratch and Jordan Mason.
Photo Courtesy of Tina Greenberg
Pictured with their window creations are 7th-grade JLP students, from left, Dylan Mendez, Tyler and Jade Gelman of West Orange, Reese Giller, Jake Lederman, Jack Dratch and Jordan Mason.

LIVINGSTON, NJ — Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass on Nov. 9 and 10, 1938, was a series of violent anti-Jewish pogroms that happened in Germany under Hitler’s regime. The name reflects the devastation of Jewish businesses, homes and synagogues — broken glass covered the streets. This year recognized the 78th anniversary of Kristallnacht.

The 7th-grade students of the Jewish Learning Program of Temple B’nai Abraham in Livingston commemorated this anniversary with a creative window project as part of their Holocaust studies. The recycled windows, purchased from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, a nonprofit home improvement store and donation center for the organization, served as a canvas for students artistically to depict life prior to Kristallnacht, the horrific events of the pogrom and how the night represented a turning point for European Jewry. Finally, the students were asked to consider their own role in preserving the memory and legacy of the victims.

For information about the JLP, contact Melissa G. Weiner at 973-994-3950 or visit www.tbanj.org/jewish-learning-program/.