Zachor – Remember. This word appears almost 200 times in the Torah.

Over and over again, we are commanded to remember. We are commanded to remember that which makes us holy (the Sabbath). We are commanded to remember that which makes us who we are (the Torah). And we are commanded to remember our history.

We remember. We remember our forefathers and our foremothers. We remember our heroes. We remember our temples and our kingdoms.

At this time of year, we remember Egypt. This 3,000-year-old history is one of the most important stories we tell – a story that shapes us as a people. Every year at Seder, we remind ourselves that we must tell our people’s stories “l’Dor v’Dor,” from generation to generation.

At this time of year, we also remember another event that has shaped us as a people – a much more recent history. A week after Passover ends, we will mark Yom Hashoah, the commemoration of the horrors of the Holocaust.

We remember.

The Holocaust demands that we remember in a different way, however – a global way. The Holocaust did not only re-shape the Jewish people; it re-shaped the world. The Holocaust is one of the most significant events in human history, if only for how it changed how we see ourselves and our behavior.

This was not the first time that one group of people attempted to eradicate another, but it was the first time we recognized genocide for what it was. It was, perhaps, the first time humanity truly reflected on our own behavior as a species and blanched at the unimaginable cruelty we found there.

We may never truly understand how such an atrocity was possible, but we all have a responsibility to remember that it was possible.

We at Teach the Shoah have taken the task of helping the world remember as the central part of our mission.

Over the last 18 months, we have brought college students together with Holocaust survivors to keep these survivors’ memories alive. Each student learns a single survivor’s story. They stand in front of the survivors, and the world, and promise to keep this memory. They promise to share the story for as long as they can.

Most of these students are not Jewish. As they bring these survivors’ stories to communities across the country, they show the world that the Holocaust is a story we all must tell and we all must hear.

Our third cohort of students is preparing to start their journey to become keepers of survivor memories. As we approach both Passover and Yom Hashoah, we feel that we are beginning to fulfill our own promise – to remember l’Dor v’Dor, from generation to generation.

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The photo collage shows our Lesaper tellers and survivors – from left to right and top to bottom: Emily Hand & Harry Davids; Henry Slucki & Sarah Dilatush; Sonia Chiappe & Ellie Rubin; Cooper Horton, Eva Brettler, & Libby Holden; Lya Frank & Riley Farco; Matthew Taleghani & Eva Nathanson; Torrie Herrington & Gabriella Karin; Avery Epperson & Henry Slucki; Taylor O’Neil & Gabriella Karin; Rowan Fripp with Monika White & Gitta Morris; Maddi Ruiz & Henry Weil; Eva Nathanson & Brenna Metts.