Justice Wecht also issued this reminder:Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis we must be better Jews. And to be better
The highlight of the evening was lecturer
Jonathan Weinkle, M.D., who serves on the
clinical faculty of the University of Pittsburgh
School of Medicine and is the Medical
Director of the Physician Assistant Studies
Program at Chatham University. Dr. Weinkle
is the author of the book, Healing People, Not
Patients: Creating Authentic Relationships in
Modern Healthcare. Those who attended his
lecture were mesmerized by Dr. Weinkle’s
approach to medicine, his knowledge of
Torah, and his humor.
ZOA Tolerance Education
Program
ZOA Pittsburgh continues the tradition
established by the late Zalman Shapiro,
Ph.D., z”l. Zalman was a ZOA national board
member active in the Pittsburgh chapter for
well over 50 years. Concerned that young
people lacked knowledge about the Holocaust,
he developed and implemented the
ZOA Tolerance Education Program, culminating
in a trip to the United States Holocaust
Museum in Washington, D.C.
The trips started in 1999. To date, ZOA has
taken over 6,850 high school sophomores to
the museum. The students represent a cross
section of the community. On their return
trip to Pittsburgh, students complete questionnaires
about their experiences visiting the
museum. Here are some of their responses on
the last trip:
“The exhibit full of the shoes of the people
made me very emotional. You look at each
shoe and see the person as an individual, not
just another number. I saw shoes that were
feminine and it represented women. Especially
when I saw shoes of a child. Seeing their
shoes, of all things, is what finally made the
story human to me, because the whole thing
is just so hard to even comprehend. I needed
something to make me realize the realness of
it.”
“We need to watch out for signs that
indicate another Holocaust. Even though it
seems too long ago, we need to realize, as a
society, that the Holocaust was closer than we
think and that it can be repeated now if we
simply deem it as an irrelevant event of the
past.”
“Learning about the Holocaust has changed
my attitude positively to treat others with
respect and without discrimination. This
experience made me feel proud of who I am.”
“The knowledge of the Holocaust leaves
people with an enormous responsibility;
although, some say that ‘racism is over,’ etc.,
we know that a statement like that is not only
false, but dangerous, and we must work to
fight against it.”
Students visiting the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington,
D.C. as part of the ZOA Tolerance Education Program
72 Around the Country: Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania
Supreme Court
Justice David Wecht
Jonathan Weinkle,
M.D.