Jerry Gottesman, rear, in shirt and tie, greets the singers from the Newark Boys Chorus School as they arrive at the Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York.
July 17, 2008
After the concert chorus of the Newark Boys Chorus School performed at the city’s 21st Annual Holocaust Observance on May 1, Morristown philanthropist and real estate developer Jerry Gottesman was inspired to take one step further in the students’ education.
“Jerry Gottesman heard them sing and wanted to see if he could do something for the kids,” said Sam Convissor, a Newark native active in the Jewish community and one of the founding trustees of the Newark Boys Chorus School. Gottesman, he added, wanted to expose the youngsters “to Jewish culture and the Holocaust” and increase their appreciation of the music they were singing.
At Gottesman’s request, Convissor organized a trip to the Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in Manhattan, and on June 16, the two men accompanied the 35 sixth- to eighth-graders (three were absent), three faculty members, and six parents to the museum.
“The kids were really into it and asked a lot of questions,” Convissor said. “The docents remarked on the way out that they seemed very prepared.
“Even on the way home,” he said, “I could tell they were talking about the trip.”
‘Experienced tragedy’
NBCS headmaster Lawrence Emery said he had spoken with the students about the Holocaust, Jewish culture, and the museum prior to the trip and that the discussion continued long after the visit to the museum.
“Some kids wanted to bring their parents,” Emery said, and one of the eighth-graders told him that the trip needed to be held for future classes.
“Society sometimes feels that young people are unmoved,” he said, but “the boys were touched.”
“These are urban kids; they’ve experienced tragedy,” he added.
Newark Boys Chorus School students during their visit to New York City
Emery said the trip was particularly important because it allowed the students to make connections between the Holocaust and the ongoing genocide in Darfur. It was also important for them to see that persecution is “not just something that happened in the ’40s,” he said.
The NBCS, founded in 1969, is a full-time academic school that combines education with choral experience for boys in fourth through eighth grades.
Though the Holocaust is not in the school’s curriculum, Emery said, “we make sure our boys are exposed to music from as many races and religions as possible.” He added that there are at least four Jewish songs in the Concert Chorus’ repertoire.
Emery also said he hopes to make the trip a yearly event scheduled before the chorus’ performance at Newark’s Holocaust observance in order to make it more meaningful for the youngsters.
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