“When words fail, music speaks.”

Yesterday, our 8th grade students heard musicians Cookie Segelstein and Josh Horowitz, with Violins of Hope, play instruments that formerly belonged to Jewish musicians who perished in the Holocaust during WWII. These violins have been lovingly restored by Amnon Weinstein, a master violin maker in Tel Aviv, Israel. He, along with his father, have made the renovation of these precious relics of history, their life’s work. Bringing the violins to life again means that their former owners, whose lives were taken away in the genocide of the Holocaust, can be heard and witnessed through music. The presentation by Violins of Hope was a truly unique and humbling experience, bringing the past a bit closer and enabling our students, currently studying the Holocaust, to feel empathy towards those who suffered immeasurably in an event that occurred 70 years ago.