IrPITS -Wv
4:e
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ernorza
. e
olocaust hero.
ct. 15 was a great kite-flying day
brisk and windy, with the requi-
site puffy white clouds. for Hillel Day
perfect day
It was a
School of Metropolitan Detroit to import the Israeli Y tradition
of launching kites into the sky each Sukkot in memor of Janusz
Korczak,
a hero
of the Holocaust.
Born Henan
Goldszmit
in either 1878 or 1879, 1(orczak trained
n ative
as a pediatrician, then became a writer and radio personality and,
finally, director of both Jewish and Christian orphanages in his
of the wind on his face as he
.
Poland
On visit to Palestine, he felt the power o
stood
an open
field
in the
the kite
Galilee.
"The in
wind
is a gift
that
gives to a child," he later wrote. "Every sin-
gle child must have a kite. And on each holiday scores and hundreds of
e i
them should be flown, in a multitude of colors and shapes."
d
ffere
o
During World War II, the Nazis evacuated his Jewish orphanagn
Warsaw, shipping the children to Treblinka. Although he was
his freedom, Korczak chose to stay with the children. He died in the
at Kibbutz Ein
n o
amps.
c The kite-flying tradition began five years
Harod, where Korczak lived during his time in Palestine. It's
hetaot.
sponsored by Yad Layeled, the Childrens
Memorial of
the
Lohamei
Hagssroom,
Ghetto Fighters Museum at Kibbutz
Hillel students learned about Korczak in the cla
and began their own kite-fly ing tradition Oct. 14-15.
c onnected
h
"The children are learning that the wind is
to Sukkot, for, at the conclusion of this holi day, t e
n Israel i s added to the
Steve Freedman,
prayer for wind and rainier
our central pray," said
Amidah,
chool.
ecite this prayer until
Hillel's head of s
"We continue to r
s pring.
their kites, the children of
Passover in the
fly
"When
they
Hillel Day School will honor the memory of
, too. They will also be flying
of
a great hero
with the chil
kites in so i ariry
Israel, who will be doing the our
sam, and
they will experience God in of
world, through the power
wind."
The kites were handmade
by Hillel students,
Freedman said, and each
student included his or
her own prayer for
peace. ❑
Top: Enjoying the day is Isabella Adelman, 6, of Farming,ton Hills.
Center:Twelve-year-okls Ariel Slabotsky and Rachel Goodman of West
Bloomfield and Jackie Pilcowitz of Bloomfield Hills prepare to fly a kite.
Bottom: Aaron Baken 6, of Farmington Hills enjoys kite-flying.
.. .
10/3
2003
27