  In
commemoraration of Veteran’s Day, Rambam was
visited by Sgt. Curtis Whiteway, who was part of the
American forces that liberated the Dachau concentration
camp at the end of World War II. Sgt. Whiteway was
honored by the Five Towns community three years ago
at the community’s annual Yom HaShoah commemoration
and was the subject of a recent story on NBC. (Click
here to view.) Sgt. Whiteway’s description of
the concentration camps was gripping, and he received
a standing ovation from the students.
The students were also treated to a sparkling presentation
by Lt. Yoni Zagdanski, an Orthodox Jew from Far Rockaway,
who is now a member of America’s fighting forces
in Iraq. He showed pictures from the fighting in Iraq
and the capture of Baghdad, and peppered his comments
with references to Iraq as Biblical “Bavel”.
He spoke about the unique experience being back in
Bavel and  how he was conscious of the strange turn
of history that had brought him back as a soldier to
a place that his forefathers had likely seen as captives.
The students roared at his jokes about Saddam Hussein
and the opulence of his palaces while showing pictures
of him and his comrades lounging on Saddam’s
palatial sofas.
“It was really awe-inspiring to see these great
people,” says Yitzie Klein, a senior. “They
risked their lives so we can live peacefully. We owe
them much gratitude.” Referring to the presentation
by Sgt. Whiteway, Josh Faizzadeh, a freshman, noted,
that “the events of the Holocaust should make
every Jewish-American appreciate living in America.
Six million Jews were persecuted under Nazi rule; in
America, we are living a life of freedom, free to practice
our religion.”
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