THE MILKENATOR May
2021
From
Silence
to
Action
Issue
Issue
3,
Vol.
2
MILKENATOR
SPECIAL THANKS TO
Contributors
Wendy Ordower
Emma Behrman Ronya Diller-Picard Meira Farkas Michael Herskovitz Samantha Simms Leah Soormaghen Jonathan Ziv Tomer Zur
The Holocaust Museum LA Lisa Weissman Jordana Gessler Lennox Middle School Maria Saldaña Wellington Andrees Jocelyn Plant Milken MS Artists
FEATURES Raising Fighting
Awareness, Intolerance
ZINE PROJECT From to
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT Creative
Arts
Silence Action
FACULTY/ STAFF SPOTLIGHT Getting
to
Know
Them
Holocaust Awareness By Tomer Zur Six million...six million human lives snuffed out in a single event.
Although
the
Holocaust
is
a
devastating
mark
in
human history that caused the death of millions of Jews, alarmingly there are still a substantial number of people who don’t know any basic facts about the genocide and the lessons that it teaches us about human nature and power. A 2021
Claims
Conference
Study
found
that
in
many
American states, over 40% of respondents to their survey about Holocaust awareness did not know what Auschwitz was, nor could they name a single concentration camp. The study also says that approximately 49% of Millennials and
Gen
Z
who
were
interviewed
by
the
Claims
Conference
in
America
say
that
they
have
witnessed Holocaust denial on social media. It even found that over 10% of respondents in many states believe that the Jews themselves caused the Holocaust. The study found countless more
stunning
statistics
about
Holocaust
ignorance
from
Americans
and
from
people
in
France, Austria, and Canada. And this isn’t the only study that indicates a disturbing lack of knowledge about the Holocaust. A 2019 Pew Research Center survey revealed that 38% of teens knew that approximately six million Jews died in the Holocaust and only 33% know that Hitler came to power through a
democratic
process
rather
than
a
military
coup.
The
survey
also
suggested
that
more
knowledge about the Holocaust was linked to a more positive and open-minded attitude about Jewish people. These studies show that the world as a whole, and America in particular, needs to make more of an effort to spread knowledge about this and other genocides. In my opinion, this
needs
to
be
done
more
all
over
the
world
and
is
desperately
needed
because
the
Holocaust has taught the world many important lessons. Public schools especially, need to create a stronger guarantee that students will learn about The Holocaust. Humanity needs to remember these lessons so that we do not allow genocide of any group occur again.
More specifically, learning about the Holocaust is important because it will teach youth about the impact that a government could have on its its people and the power of citizens to stand up to a breakdown of democracy. The Nazis were able to take advantage of the desperation
that inflation and poverty caused and use indoctrination to gain their power. Their rule was also strongly fueled by false propaganda that blinded people to the atrocities that they were really committing and by fear and intimidation. Schools need to educate children about this so that they can recognize what a corrupt government or a threatened democracy looks like. It is also important to learn about the Nazis' violent and amoral style of government so that we can compare them to better governments. This comparison will also allow us to appreciate and understand the government that we live under. The Holocaust is also an important subject that schools must teach
because
awareness
about
it
will
encourage
genocide,
students
intolerance,
to
upstanding,
spread social
justice, and human rights. After students learn about different motives for the Holocaust such as anti-semitic scapegoating, it is likely that some students will be inspired to make an impact on modern day forms of these issues. Today, social media is an excellent way to spread awareness about the actions of repressive governments and ideas about how we can stop future genocide and general hatred towards and intolerance of marginalized groups. However, students can’t do this effectively if they are not well educated about the subject. Now that it has been nearly eighty years since the Holocaust, many people who survived the genocide and try to spread their stories in their communities are passing away.
Photos by Tomer Zur
Unless we make an effort to increase education about individual Holocaust survival stories, hundreds of life changing stories filled with important lessons will disappear. These individual stories teach us lessons about facing adversity, inequality, and oppression of human rights. They will also teach the next generation about the suffering that is caused when a group of people is discriminated against because of their differences. Our schools need to embed the message in us that we are all human beings and that we need to be treated as equally as possible. Overall, the Holocaust is something that needs to be taught in schools so that the lessons it holds do not fade and so that humanity does not commit another mass genocide or stand by and watch again. I hope that in the future, we will no longer see such stunning statistics about Holocaust awareness and that the Holocaust is used to teach students important life lessons. Claims Conference. “New Survey by Claims Conference Finds Significant Lack of Holocaust Knowledge in the United States.” Claims Conference, 14 Jan. 2021, www.claimscon.org/study/. “What Americans Know About the Holocaust.” Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project, 30 May 2020, www.pewforum.org/2020/01/22/what-americans-know-about-the-holocaust/.
Symptoms of ADHD You’re hyperactive, yet still somehow tired.
Have all these interests yet feel uninspired.
Constantly working yet never productive.
You never can focus or do what's instructed.
Most of our problems are worse than depicted
“You can fix it with meds!” Sure, go get addicted
Strangled with stress and stabbed by anxiety
Can never shut up or keep it inside of me
Misunderstood as a sloth in a tree I feel like the laziest person whoever could be
Life can be rough as you might see, living with symptoms of ADHD.
MICHAEL HERSKOVITZ Learning Difference Awareness
Finally
My Old Life
RONYA DILLER-PICARD
The age of eight
They say middle school can be the toughest time in a kid’s life, but I’m not so sure. Elementary was
Found me very sad
no walk in the park for me. When I was in first grade, I lived up in the Bay Area and went to a really
Struggling so much to read
small Waldorf school in Marin. My favorite subjects were (and still are) history and English, but they
Finally made me mad
required a lot of reading...and reading was not always easy for me. Sometimes it felt like my brain wasn’t “programmed” in the way that others were. Like being able to read just didn’t make sense.
When I was nine I finally left To pursue my own life Like all the rest
Sometimes I felt like an outcast because I was the only one who couldn’t do all the “normal” school stuff. While I was going through this hard time in my life, I loved listening to Michael Jackson because his music had a lot of meaning for me. “Man in the Mirror” was my favorite because it meant trying to change who you are for the better...it gave me hope that change was possible. Music helped me to cope with being different, but music didn’t give me a solution.
Finally at ten I got many answers But still many mysteries Were yet to be mastered
Then when I was in second grade my mom decided to take me out of school to put me in Lindamood-Bell for third grade. Lindamood-Bell is a school for kids with special needs and learning differences. There were different programs there like On Cloud Nine which helps kids with math. I loved learning to air write for reading and using image cards to visualize vocabulary. It helped to
My inner monsters
boost my confidence in identifying and using letters, sounds, words. One of my favorite topics to
Finally came out to play
study has always been the American Revolution because somehow this small country defeated a
To get me down To ruin my day
global superpower. That year I conquered reading, I felt like George Washington defeating the British at Yorktown, such a big boost for my self esteem. I still had questions about why my mind worked the way it did, but I had learned to manage it and figured out ways to reach my reading
Many thoughts
goals.
clouded my mind I was finally ready to break down inside
At ten years old, I moved to L.A. with my mom to have more stability and be closer to my mom’s side of the family. Of course, leaving the Bay Area was really hard because all of my friends were there and it was the only place I really knew when I was younger. But around the same time I moved here,
Fighting mixed emotions, Struggling to see Through a cloud of words and letters Finally realizing, this is me I’m who I’m meant to be
Eventually learning I may have many flaws But this is not one Finally I can move on
my doctor diagnosed me with Dyslexia, Visual Processing Disorder, OCD, and ADD. Figuring this out was like solving a mystery and unlocking the door to my brain.
Now since I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to the realization that my Dyslexia isn’t a curse, it’s a blessing because I’m the person that I am today because of it. It forced me to persevere and try my hardest in everything, like my hero Lin-Manuel Miranda. This year I loved reading The Melting Pot in Humanities because it’s actually a play and some of us were assigned parts and got to do dramatic readings. I never imagined as a first grader that I’d ever love reading out loud and performing! It’s taken some time, but slowly I’ve been figuring out I am who I am, not in spite of my dyslexia, but because of it and because of how I learned to deal with it and move forward.
JONATHAN ZIV Environmental Awareness
Boyhood
An Immigrant's Dream
Born in Tehran, Iran in “Kourosh (Cyrus) Bozorg Hospital'' on 19 mordad, 1338 (August
By Leah Soormaghen degree. Hersel and his group of five other
to study nuclear science in hopes of
best friends, that to this day still remain in
later coming back to Iran to work as a
touch, always managed to get into
nuclear engineer in power plants. He
trouble and even formed a music band in
came to America October 1, 1978, six
kosher butcher and his mother Akram
which he played the drums. From the
months before the Iranian revolution,
Khankhaian was a very caring and loving
ages 14 to17 Hersel was quite the athlete,
and knew that he could never return to
housewife. Hersel had 4 other siblings, two
and his soccer success led him to be
Iran due to the new Islamic regime.
captain of the team. His passion and
Hersel first attended Kansas University
talent sparked a flame in the competing
in Kansas City for nine months to study
boys, who were jealous of his play and
English and later moved to New York.
knowledge, in Tehran from elementary all
used that as an excuse to verbally attack
He eventually attended Brooklyn
throughout high school. In school Hersel was
him. Because of this, he and his friends
College for two years where he rented
frequently saw themselves getting into
a very small studio apartment, only
fights with some of the Muslim boys who
about 300 square feet, where he lived
hurled slurs like “dirty Jew.”
for six years.
Immigration
Being the only one in his family to have
10, 1969) Hersel (Hertzel) Soormaghen was the middle child of a middle class family. His father Moshe (Moses) Soormaghen was a
brothers Nader (Yehuda) and Naser (Moshe) and two sisters Mitra (Yochevet) and Maria (Miriam). He went to a Jewish school named “Ganje Danesh,'' meaning the treasure of
a good student who always received straight As due to his smarts, despite his lack of effort. As a boy he maintained a tight relationship with his father, being more friends than anything else. His father was his role model. He taught him everything he knew and inspired Hersel’s craving for possibility and innovation. He also always
immigrated to America at the time, he Hersel then finished high school as an
had to learn to clean, cook, and be
honors student and it was time for him to
independent. Life definitely wasn't easy,
either serve in the army for two years, or
for an 18 to 19 year old boy that was
leave the country for a higher education.
homesick, lonely, and left to manage his
of his time, a man that was knowledgeable
He decided to leave Iran for America
own affairs all on his own. Being so
and knew more than any
when he was 17-and-a-half years old
young in such an undesirable situation,
encouraged his son that books were his best friend, and was willing to provide his children with the best education he could. Hersel definitely took after a man that was ahead
Adulthood
All those daydreams he used to have as
wife, later one day blessed with having
a little boy sitting in class looking out
two beautiful, wonderful twin girls,
Hersel then went to City University of
the window, wondering what the future
Leah and Norah Soormaghen. To this
New York and received his bachelor's
held, he had to surrender for the sake
day Hersel continues to take astronomy
degree in computer engineering and
of his loved ones. He left IBM and
classes at UCLA and still hasn't left
later his masters degree in aeronautical
eventually started his own real estate
behind his passion for science and
engineering from the Polytechnic
company.
wonders.
Institute of Technology, although this time he received a grant from his
Finally, in 1998 he landed in California
college due to his good grades. City
and rented a small house while in the
University was known to be a very
process of building his own permanent
prestigious school in New York and
home by himself. Living in California
fulfilled a dream for him. Ever since he
was very different than in New York.
was a little boy, he always enjoyed
Mesmerized by the sudden amount of
science, mathematics, and looking at
space he was given, Hersel took this
the sky pondering what all the stars in
opportunity to raise chickens and ducks.
the galaxy meant. After college, Hersel
He also planted many vegetables such
went to Columbia University and got his
as eggplants, tomatoes, and cucumbers
PhD in nuclear science. Once his school
in his backyard. He saw himself enjoying
days were over, Hersel worked for IBM
the lovely California sun and gawking
for ten years, researching and
at the beautiful nature, especially the
developing artificial intelligence and
fruit trees filled with bright yellow
global telecommunication networks.
lemons that glistened in the sun and
One by one his family started to
juicy oranges that looked like the ones
immigrate to America as well, and
in the commercials. All of a sudden
Hersel was left to support them
details really stuck out and these new
financially. However, him leaving IBM
opportunities left Hersel in awe. Of
meant more than leaving just a job; it
course, over time he grew older (not
meant letting go of the passion that he
too old though) and things fell into
worked so incredibly hard for.
place. He settled down and married his
A Daughter’s Sentiment This immigrant’s journey shaped Hersel, my father, into the man he is today. Yes, maybe a man with faults and flaws, but also a selfless, sensitive, caring individual with thick skin that not even the sharpest knife could slice through. A man that would give up the world for the sake of his beloved's happiness. All the sacrifices he made to see me smile and provide his children with the privileges he never had gives me so many opportunities in life. All thanks to him, his brain, and his big dreams. Being the legacy of my immigrant father is what keeps me up at night wondering what the future holds for me. Who will tell his story and what will be the continuation of what truly is an immigrant’s dream.
JEWISH LIFE IN IRAN Basic
Hjelmgaard, Kim. “Iran’s Jewish Community Is the Largest in the Mideast Outside Israel – and Feels Safe and Respected.” USA Today, 18 Dec. 2019, www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/world/insideiran/2018/08/29/iran-jewish-population-islamicstate/886790002/.
Facts
“J
Iran has 2nd largest Jewish
1979 exodus was prompted by the
population in the Middle East
execution of Jewish leader and
Majority of Jews live in Tehran,
businessman Habib Elghanian
Isfahan, or Shiraz
Accused of being a "friend to
About 35 synagogues
Israel, a Zionist, an enemy of G-d"
Shopkeeping is the main
Loyal to Iran and helpful to
occupation
community
No Jews in senior government
Many feared the same fate
positions. (There’s only one Jewish
6 Jewish leaders went to Ayatollah
representative in the country’s
to plead and negotiate for the
290-member Parliament.)
safety of their people
JEWISH LIFE IN IRAN Multiple Perspectives
“Moses would have nothing to do “What you see there (for
with these pharaoh-like Zionists who
Iran’s Jews) is a very
run Israel. And our Jews, the
vibrant community. A
descendants of Moses, have nothing
community that faces problems – but it's Iran, so
to do with them either. We recognize
problems are a given.”
our Jews as separate from those
-Lior Sternfeld, a Middle
godless, bloodsucking Zionists."
East historian at Penn
-Ayatollah Khomeini
State University
"We have all the facilities we
"The Muslim majority in Iran has accepted
need for our rituals, and we can
us...We are respected and trusted for our
say our prayers very freely. We
expertise and fair dealings in business, and we
never have any problems. I can even tell you that, in many cases, we are more respected than
never feel threatened. Many years ago, before the royal regime of Pahlavi, by contrast, if it was raining in Iran, Jews were not allowed to go outside of their houses because it was believed
Muslims. You saw for yourself we
that if a non-Muslim got wet and touched a
don’t even have any security
Muslim it would make them dirty.”
guards here.”
-Homayoun Sameyah Najafabadi, 53,
-Nejat Golshirazi, 60, rabbi
Chairman of the Tehran Jewish Committee
Jews in Islamic Countries: Iran.” Jews of Iran, Jewish Virtual Library AICE, Apr. 2021,
www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jews-of-iran.
Government officials continued to employ antiSemitic rhetoric in official statements and to sanction it in media outlets, publications, and books. In an October 2 speech, IRGC Chief General Hossein Salami said Israel would be
"The regime is not too concerned about its Jews as long as they don’t become involved in politics and don’t say anything positive about Israel." -Meir Javedanfar, an Iranian Jew
“wiped off the world’s political geography.” Government-sponsored rallies continued to include chants of “Death to Israel,” -2019 Religious Freedom Report U.S. State Department
On May 19, Khamenei published a poster depicting Jerusalem with the phrase, “The final solution: Resistance until referendum.” Cartoons in state-run media outlets
"There is no anti-Semitism in Iran. Iran is a multi-
repeatedly depicted foreign officials as
ethnic and very diverse country and Iranians are
puppets of Jewish control. In September a
proud of that diversity and history."
government-controlled arts organization
-Eliyan Musazedeh, 24, Tehranian Jew
announced it would hold a third “Holocaust Cartoon Festival.” According to media
"I can tell, you are thinking I am afraid. But
reports, officials and media propagated
I have been many places visiting Jewish
conspiracy theories blaming Jews and Israel
communities. Iran is the best for us." -Golshirazi, rabbi
for the spread of COVID-19. -2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, U.S. State Department
Schneider, Jan. “Celebrating Sabbath with Iran's Jewish Minority.” DW.com, 13 July 2019, www.dw.com/en/celebrating-sabbath-with-irans-jewishminority/a-49543137.
A study of 2021 school textbooks found, “Jews are depicted in accordance with a broad array of hateful anti-Semitic myths and tropes, while
"You cannot find any well-paid jobs in Iran
Zionists and the State of Israel are depicted as the
anymore, and the
spearhead of global imperialism against the Muslim
situation is getting worse
world, purportedly led today by America. Children
every year."
are taught that Zionism is a racist, imperialist contrivance akin to other Jewish or Western conspiracies against Islam throughout history, and
-Eliyan Musazedeh, 24, Tehranian Jew
that Zionist Jews are the enemies of Islam." -David Andrew Weinberg, Anti-Defamation League
"[I] am happy to have left Iran
In 2007, the Tehran Jewish
and [have] no interest in coming back. Israel has
Committee rejected an offer by Israel’s government to pay each family of remaining Jews in Iran up to $60,000 to help them leave the country. -Kim Hjelmgaard, USA Today
become the home for [me] that Iran could never have been" -Eli Hoorizadeh
VISUAL ARTS
SPOTLIGHT
MEIRA FARKAS What
We
Can
Be
SAMANTHA SIMMS We
All
Have
EL BRODER Bees
SAMARA STERN Sketches
Knees
ELLA SHAFER Perspectives
ELLA SHAFER Perspectives
ELIZABETH HOFFMAN Winter's
Promise
Coach Turner’s interests range from playing rugby to playing the harmonica. He also competes in Spartan Races and Tough Mudders.
Faculty/ Staff Spotlight Ms. Horn’s hobbies are reading good books, travelling, and watching basketball especially The Lakers. She would love to live in France because
He has "half decent
it's beautiful.
acting skills," is still pretty athletic and played Division 1 football in college.
She would wish for Covid-19 and systemic racism to end and for a chance to speak with her father one more time.
Coach Turner would like to visit New Zealand because he is a huge fan of JRR Tolkien, so it would be a great place to visit where the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings movies were made. Additionally, the country has a lot of natural beauty and he could take some time to create drawings and photography based on the landscape.
One thing that would surprise middle school students is that Ms. Horn is terrified of dogs.
Mr. Parmelee would wish for unlimited ice cream, limited waistline and limitless happiness.
Faculty/ Staff Spotlight Mrs. Garnick would wish for more time with family members who have passed away (especially her dad), that her students know how much she wants them to succeed, and health and
When Mr. Parm was in
happiness for everyone she cares about.
middle school he wanted to work at Footlocker in the mall so he get get a discount on all the sweet kicks!
One thing that would surprise middle school students about Mrs. Garnick is that she was on Wheel of Fortune in middle school!!
Mr. Parmelee’s likes to spend his leisure time playing golf and would like to visit England because the history is rich.
Mrs. Garnick loves to read books, especially mysteries, listen to music, work out, and watch her sons play sports.
MIDDLE SCHOOL motivated