Our Blog
The Heart of the Story
Every story about the Holocaust has a survivor at its heart. That sounds ridiculous on the surface, but it’s true. And it’s why I can tell (and hear) these stories repeatedly despite the emotional reaction each one brings. Allow me to explain. Many of the stories we...
L’Dor v’Dor
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...
2025 Annual Report
Teach the Shoah’s 2025 Annual Report offers a snapshot of the stories, storytellers, and spaces through which Holocaust memory is carried forward as living memory in new communities and new generations.
The Heart of the Story
Every story about the Holocaust has a survivor at its heart. That sounds ridiculous on the surface, but it’s true. And it’s why I can tell (and hear) these stories repeatedly despite the emotional reaction each one brings. Allow me to explain. Many of the stories we...
L’Dor v’Dor
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...
2025 Annual Report
Teach the Shoah’s 2025 Annual Report offers a snapshot of the stories, storytellers, and spaces through which Holocaust memory is carried forward as living memory in new communities and new generations.
Before and After
In December of 2025, after many months of resisting, my mother quietly passed away as I held her. Gone after 98 resilient and powerful years. I retired in August 2020, when she was 93, as she needed more care and support. I saw she was fading, and I knew that her...
Thoughts of a Teller: Bomb Shelter version
There is something unexpected about the community that forms in a bomb shelter, about the stories that are told, the stories that are requested, and the conversations that ensue. Saturday morning Sirens: war has started. We sit in the shelter. Everyone looks very...
Candle & Chronicle March 2026 Dispatch
There are times when the work is visible—when a teller stands before an audience and a story is carried aloud. And there are times when the work happens more quietly. February held both. We gathered for an Echoes of the Past program, Saving Our Souls, examining acts...
Learning to Tell by Listening
When I was very young, I learned that if I sat quietly, I could listen undisturbed to my mother and aunts telling stories from their childhoods. As I heard names I recognized and places I had seen, I sat fascinated at the revelations. People I knew as sweet old ladies...
Candle & Chronicle Newsletter February 2026
When storyteller Cathy Polakoff shared the story of Olympic swimmer Eva Szekely with a high school class recently, a student commented that she had always known the Holocaust was “a bad thing,” but only when she heard it through a storyteller’s voice did she truly feel its enormity. [Redirects to Mailchimp]
Candle & Chronicle April 2026
In recent months, I have had the opportunity to sit with survivors as they hear their stories told back to them. It is a remarkable moment in which we see a quiet yet profound shift. What has been lived by one person is now being held, carefully and responsibly, by another. [Redirects to Mailchimp]
The Heart of the Story
Every story about the Holocaust has a survivor at its heart. That sounds ridiculous on the surface, but it’s true. And it’s why I can tell (and hear) these stories repeatedly despite the emotional reaction each one brings. Allow me to explain. Many of the stories we...
Subscribe for More Great Articles!
Join our mailing list to get notified about new blogs and upcoming events.