A Soulful Journey

Shortly after World War II, Dr. Chaim Weizmann, who became the first President of Israel, visited the concentration camps of Eastern Europe.   He saw emaciated bodies, squalid living quarters, even scratch marks on the walls which helped inmates count the number of days spent in that hell upon earth.   Moved and angered by what they witnessed, some of the people who accompanied Dr. Weizmann turned to him and said: “Dr. Weizmann, what are we going to do about this?   How shall we Jews get our revenge on these beasts who perpetrated such crimes?” Dr. Weizmann answered: “The Jews do not seek revenge. The Jews build.”  - Rabbi Louis Tuchman

Dear Teacher, I am a survivor of a concentration camp. My eyes saw what no man should witness: Gas chambers built by learned engineers. Children poisoned by educated physicians. Infants killed by trained nurses. Women and babies shot and burned by high school and college graduates. So I am suspicious of education. My request is: Help your students become human. Your efforts must never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths, educated Eichmanns.   Reading, writing, arithmetic are important only if they serve to make our children more human. This letter was  written by Dr. Haim Ginott.  It was a memo to teachers before the first day of school on the critical importance of values based education.  It is well worth reading, re-reading and  then  passing on to all the  people  whom we know.