Seventh graders in the Hai class of the Beth El Temple Religious School in West Hartford

Seventh graders in the Hai class of the Beth El Temple Religious School in West Hartford conducted a Holocaust commemoration for the school on Sunday morning, April 29 that included music, a candle lighting ceremony and the reading of original student poetry focused on the theme “The Hope.” Here are three of the poems written by students and read at the commemoration:

The Hope
By Peter Malkin

It was a dreadful time
A time of horror and nightmares
Six million were innocently killed
For one reason only,
They were Jewish

They slept in overcrowded beds
They were fed almost nothing for years.
People thought they were animals

Many tried to hide.
Almost all were caught and killed.
Those who stayed hidden,
lived in unbearable conditions for years

They were nothing but a number
Yet from all this comes hope.
We were victorious.
And from all this emerged a Homeland.
A place we can be safe and free.
ISRAEL.
HATIKVAH.
HOPE.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Hope
By Jordan Lazinsk

You were there. You saw them.
They did terrible things.
You saw them do it.
You were scared.
You thought it was the end.

It wasn’t; you are still here.
They couldn’t do it.
They said they would kill you.
Kill your family
Kill your friends
Kill all of us

But they did not prevail
Yes, they instilled a sense of fear
But they did not win
We won!
We were victorious!

We are still victorious
And you are here to remind us
That you are the hope.
Thank you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Hope
By Karolina Ptutterman

You lost food
You lost friends
You lost family
But you did not
Lose Hope.

You kept hope
In the darkest of
Days and made a light
Turn on even when
There was not one present.

Hope is where the love is
And where you feel happy
Never will our people feel
That much pain again because
We are the Hope and we stand
Strong as One!