ENGLISH CORNER, CON LINDA JIMÉNEZ – This week’s trivia question: What characteristic do many children of Holocaust survivors have in common?
Rabbi Dr. Bernhard Rosenberg was born in a DP camp in Germany, the only child of Holocaust survivors from Poland. He grew up in the United States and has devoted his entire life to Holocaust remembrance and education. He received his ordination and Doctorate of Education from Yeshiva University in New York, and is Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Beth-El in Edison, New Jersey. He has several other degrees in communication and education and a Doctor of Divinity from the Jewish Theological Seminary.
Rabbi Rosenberg has taught at Rutgers University in New Jersey and Yeshiva University in New York and he has published numerous books and hundreds of articles regarding the Holocaust. His book The Holocaust as Seen through Film is a teacher’s guide to movies, documentaries and short films that can be used in the classroom for Holocaust education. He has also received several awards, including the Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award and Chaplain of the Year Award from the New York Board of Rabbis.
We spoke with Rabbi Rosenberg about his work and especially about his recently published book Holocaust Survivors & Their Families: Remember, Reflect and Reminisce, in which children and grandchildren of survivors write about their unique experiences. Dr. Rosenberg feels very strongly that the Holocaust should be an integral part of Jewish religious services and has written a Holocaust Haggadah for Passover that has been published in English and Spanish. His latest work is the Rosenberg Holocaust Siddur (prayer book), which has just been released in time for the upcoming commemoration of Kristallnacht on November 9.
