400 people go to Valley Chabad program with Auschwitz survivor
More than 400 guests packed the Woodcliff Lake Amphitheater last Sunday to hear Itu Lustig, an Auschwitz survivor who lives in Brooklyn, tell her story for Valley Chabad’s annual Eternal Flame Lecture.
Mrs. Lustig told about how she grew up with her family in a small town in Romania, how they were taken away by the Nazis, and how most of her family was killed in the gas chambers in Auschwitz. She’s the oldest of seven children, she and a younger brother were the only ones who survived.
After the talk, teens presented Mrs. Lustig with a birthday cake and balloons, in honor of her 94th birthday that night. She rolled up her sleeve and showed the teens the numbers the Nazis tattooed on her arm.
Rabbi Dov Drizin of Valley Chabad thanked her for coming to speak, recognizing the considerable effort this takes for someone who has reached her age. There was also a question-and-answer session.
Half the attendees were students — many of them participants in the Valley Chabad Teen Leadership Initiative, and many others from the Pascack Hills High School’s Holocaust education class. Heather Lutz, their teacher, who encouraged her students to attend, said, “It was an incredible honor to bear witness to Itu’s testimony. My students were so moved by the experience, as was I.”
Lauren Cherkas of Woodcliff Lake, who was at the program with her two children, said, “Mrs. Lustig delivered a difficult story that was appropriate for the mixed-aged audience with eloquence. She is a gift to our people and the world. It was an honor to hear her.”
Heidi Pollack of Woodcliff Lake said, “Mrs. Lustig gave such a moving, strong, and forthright depiction of her time in the camps. Seeing all the teens and young people there was so important.”
The goal of Valley Chabad’s Eternal Flame, founded in 2014 and directed by Rabbi Yosef Orenstein, is to educate young people about the atrocities of the Holocaust and inspire them to be a beacon of light onto our world. To learn more, go to eternalflame.org or call (201) 476-0157.
comments