St Mary's Calne
On Wednesday 16th February, UIV (Year 9) enjoyed an excellent Religious Studies and History trip to the Jewish Museum in London. The girls completed two workshops.
The first focused on the Mitzvot (commandments) that are to do with prayer and those concerned with Tzedakah (charity and justice). It was a very hands-on experience which involved examining various artefacts, objects and pictures and trying to work out their significance. There was the opportunity to try on prayer shawls and kippahs and handle tefillin and mezuzahs.
The second workshop, entitled ‘Never Again Auschwitz’, looked at the Holocaust through the story of Leon Greenman, a British Jew living in The Netherlands in the 1930s. Greenman and his family were rounded up by the Nazis and transported to the death camps. He managed to survive but lost his wife and small son. It was sobering and moving to hear his story and to be reminded of the murderous effects of racist extremism. Seeing it through the eyes of one man made it far more personal and real than simply reading the history of that terrible time. The trip enriched the girls’ knowledge in both Religious Studies and History and was time very well-spent.