28 THE JEWISH WEEK. MARCH 4, 2005 We Don't Tell You WHAT to Think ISRAEL We Teach you HOW to Learn If you are interested in An open but intellectually rigorous engagement with text and tradition A denominationally non-judgmental environment Making your mark on the Jewish people Enrolling in our Semikhah, Advanced Semikhah, Master of Public Administration, or Mekhina Programs. Then you need to us out. OPEN HOUSE AT THE METIVTA Sunday March 13th at 5:00 pm INSTITUTE OF TRADITIONAL JUDAISM Six hundred photos of Shoah victims grace the domed ceiling of 811 Palisade Ave. Teaneck, NJ 07666 the Hall of Names. The images are reflected in a pool below. website: www.utj.org Photos by Michele Chabin Please RSVP to 1-201-801-0707, ext. 200 or email rweinberger@utj.org. Putting Jewish Victims First Countering the trend of universalizing the Shoah, UTJ CENJUNE FAITH AND 7917X run WII the massively renovated Yad Vashem aims to return focus on Jews. Michele Chabin of it by volunteers, who digitized 3 mil- Israel Correspondent lion photographs and written pages of tes- timony for computer use. The hope is that J erusalem - Two weeks before its offi- Jews from around the world will visit the cial opening on March 15, Yad Vashem's site and input the names of the remaining Holocaust History Museum looked far three million victims. from ready to welcome visitors. Many of Unlike the original Yad Vashem, which its soaring walls were bare, as were most of INTENATIONAL SERVICE FUND managed to convey the enormity of the its display cases. Teams of staffers hurried Shoah, the new museum focuses more through the huge triangular construction site, the estimated 6 million Jewish individu stirring up sawdust, as dozens of workmen who lived and died through it. In an in drilled and hammered. view with The Jewish Week, Avner SH But even through the tumult it was clear chairman of Yad Vashem's directorate that the new history museum is a powerful the new museum's chief curator, stressed new addition to the Yad Vashem complex, the complex remains "first and foremo which has undergone a massive renova- Jewish museum." tion. Seated in his office where a photo Much of Yad Vashem remains untouched: three IDF jets flying over Auschwitz Sat Did BBYO the Children's Memorial, the Valley of the the ground waiting to be mounted, Shal Communities and several other landmarks said that Yad Vashem is trying to counter remain as they were. What is different is the "growing phenomenon of universaliz- the museum complex, designed by Moshe ing the Shoah. People [abroad] talk more Touch your Life? Safdie, a well-known Israeli architect. It in- and more about human rights and crimes cludes the cavernous history museum, which against humanity," he said, forgetting that is three times the size of the old museum; an the Shoah was first and foremost an at- Join thousands of BBGs and AZAs who are connecting art museum; an exhibition pavilion; a new tempt to systematically wipe out the Jew- Hall of Names; a visual center, a learning ish people. with old friends, sharing memories and learning about center; and a synagogue. Unless the Jews are placed center stage BBYO news and events. The International Institute for Holocaust in the Holocaust narrative, Shalev warned, Research has been expanded and an Inter- "it might come to the point where the story Register today at www.bbyoalumni.org, and national School for Holocaust Studies has will be told without Jews, or the Jews will be reconnect with the organization that touched been launched. As part of its upgrade, Yad very marginal." Vashem has redoubled its efforts to video- This task is becoming increasingly diffi- your life. tape survivors' testimonies and to collect cult, Shalev conceded, because those who ex- and transfer Shoah-related documents from perienced the Holocaust or lived during this Europe. period are quickly dying out. "The challenge FIND YOURSELF Those who cannot physically visit Yad is to deliver a legacy, to make it relevant and BBYO HERE-AGAIN Vashem can still utilize the recently un- meaningful to the third or fourth generation veiled Database of Shoah Victims online and later generations." alumni at www.yadvashem.org. The site is the To meet this challenge, the curators opted culmination of years of hard work, much for a fusion of modern videotapes and in-