On Tuesday, July 18, 2023, Fasman Yeshiva High School presented its fifth exclusive premiere movie screening of “Names, Not Numbers©: A Movie in the Making,” a Holocaust Memorial Film. The “Names, Not Numbers©” program converts traditional history lessons into an inter-generational, interactive project that brings to life a first-hand account of each survivor’s story and preserves each of those stories through the production of a student-produced documentary film. This year's premiere screening was held at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts. Guests included Yeshiva students, faculty, parents, featured survivors, and other community members.
The “Names, Not Numbers©” program is run by founder Tova Fish-Rosenberg. Her program exposes students to first-hand experience with the filmmaking process, and under the direction of skilled advisors and professionals, prepares them for the interviews, and the necessary steps required for producing a meaningful documentary. During the school year, juniors and seniors worked with various professionals, including Holocaust experts, respected journalists, and a filmmaker on the production of “Names, Not Numbers©: A Movie in the Making.”
The film told the personal stories of those Holocaust Survivors, touching on the individual’s life before the war, as well as their experiences during and immediately following the Holocaust. The film featured the stories of five Holocaust survivors who each participated in on-camera interviews, and the resulting impact upon the students after hearing the survivors describe their experiences and trials during this darkest period of history. The featured survivors included William Gingold, Irving Kohn, Jack Mangurten, Leo Melamed and Gdalina Novitsky. We thank our survivors for sharing their personal stories of survival with our students, particularly for their time and effort in transmitting their testimony for us and for future generations to come.
Special thank you to all of our corporate and individual sponsors for supporting this important project and to everyone who worked so hard to organize this evening, and, of course, we share our heartfelt appreciation to the survivors who participated in this project. We are grateful that our Yeshiva students have this special opportunity to be a part of this one-of-a-kind, life changing experience and an important link in the chain of connecting with the survivors and documenting their stories for future generations.
This year’s film will be available for viewing starting on Tisha Baav at www.fyhs.co.