There was no shortage of commitment to Holocaust education at this summer’s NewCAJE conference. At least seven sessions focused on the Shoah, including two from Teach the Shoah (TTS). Participants could even earn a Holocaust Certificate.

What struck me, though, was how eager these educators were for tools that could help their students connect with the Holocaust on a deeper, more personal level – the very challenge I had come to address in my session on TTS’s educational approach.

My session participants were blown away by our storytelling technique. They were experienced educators who knew how to assign readings, display maps, and encourage students to interview survivors in their communities. They knew how to teach the history. What they needed was a way to make it personal.

I told a 3-minute story about the bravery of ballerina Francezka Mann as she arrived in Auschwitz. I showed them the primary sources I used to develop the story. We discussed which aspects of her experiences would or would not be appropriate for different audiences.

I shared a few brief pieces of written testimony from survivor June Salzer Prager. I gave them the opportunity to describe the images they formed from each. Then I told Juniya’s entire story, and we discussed the choices I made in the telling.

Several people told me later that they had found my workshop to be very impactful and useful to them as teachers. They thanked me for introducing them to this new tool for teaching about the Shoah.

In the evening, there was music, comedy, and moving performances. Jennifer Zunikoff’s portrayal of Emma Lazarus brought to life her passion for refugees – for people pushed from their homelands because they were considered too “other” – and her vision of an America that would welcome them. Then Dvora Caspi’s husband, Abba, led his choir onto the stage to sing “Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor,” Irving Berlin’s setting of Lazarus’s poem “The New Colossus.”

We ended the evening with Rachel Haymer (Kol Isha) singing, and her lyrics electrified me with purpose. We in the audience sang along to her words: “It’s on us”. ­

And there it is. It is indeed on us. Both Jewish and non-Jewish educators want to teach this aspect of Jewish history, but they need new tools and effective resources to do it. We at TTS have the tools and resources and, most importantly, the people to help them do it.

It’s on us.