Neima Fax, ’20

My maternal great grandmother, Klara Birnberg and her siblings, found an abandoned Torah right after the war on their way back to their hometown, Czernowitz. In 1947, they immigrated to

Israel and their ship was diverted to a DP camp in Cyprus where my grandmother was born. They were later allowed to immigrate and moved to Rishon Letzion. They kept the Torah with them the whole time. This picture is from the Hachnasat Sefer Torah where they dedicated it to their shul in Rishon Letzion in 1957. The Torah was later lost by my grandmothers brother in law, and we

don’t know where it is today, but we know it’s in Israel. I truly admire my family for holding this Torah with them through their travels and hardship. It continues to teach

me the importance of holding on to Judaism, especially in times of crisis. The second photo, which I wanted to share because it’s extremely impactful, is of my grandfather on Purim in Israel. My great grandmother, Helen Gruenbaum, sewed the costume when they lived in Cholon. It is half concentration camp uniform, and half IDF soldier. To me it shows the extreme highs and lows that the Jewish people have been through, and how we have to hold both the light and the dark together, because that is how our identity continues to be formed.