by
NJJN Staff Writer

Ben Cohen of Summit, 15, acknowledges that many people don’t really understand what is going on in Darfur. “What they know is what people hear…. They don’t take the energy to find out.”

Eliot Coven, 16, also of Summit, wants to figure out ways of helping the people of Darfur besides sending money. “People are just raising money. Where is the money going?”

On Sunday, March 26, at Temple Sinai in Summit, they and about 40 other religious school students in the synagogue’s high school participated in a three-hour workshop on Darfur offering background on the crisis and the tools to become an advocate for the victims.

“These kids know something horrible is going on, and they liken it to the Holocaust, but they do not even know where Darfur is,” said Patti Kahn, director of education at Temple Sinai.

Darfur, a region of western Sudan about the size of Texas, is embroiled in a crisis that began in February 2003 when two local militias, the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement, started an uprising against the Sudanese government. The Janjaweed, the government-backed militia, was sent out to suppress the rebellion. The Janjaweed has carried out attacks on civilian populations of the same ethnic background as those in the local militia groups. In September 2004, the United States deemed the actions of the government and the Janjaweed “genocide.”

The workshop at Temple Sinai was the third in a series at the religious school known as Profiles in Courage. Through its programs, students have examined the concept of the other, and have learned “about the history, struggles, and current plights of others in our world,” said Kahn. “They examine the lives of those who make a positive difference toward tikun olam, repair of the world, as they strive to make a difference as well.”

Among the subjects Temple Sinai students have examined is the Holocaust memorial project created by a school in rural Tennessee. Students and teachers at that school collected six million paper clips to increase comprehension of the number of Jews killed during the Holocaust. Their experiences and project became the subject of the movie Paper Clips, which the Temple Sinai students watched. They also watched Hotel Rwanda, a film that captured the events surrounding the genocide perpetrated by Rwandan Hutus against their Tutsi neighbors.

Jacqueline Sutton, a social studies teacher at High Point High School in Sussex County who specializes in genocide issues, led the Darfur workshop. She offered an introduction to the concept of genocide, then an overview of Darfur — from its history and geography to the region’s demographics — to provide a perspective of the current crisis. The students formed small groups to formulate talking points. By the end of the day, they had also heard from Temple Sinai’s Rabbi Stuart Gershon, watched a brief film on Darfur, and created advocacy posters.

Most of the students said they were pleased to have the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the issues.

“I really didn’t know anything about this, or that it was happening,” said Sophie Lavine, 14, of New Providence. Now that she’s studied the issue, she said, “I’ve become really interested in it.”

For 14-year-old Daniela Quintanilla of Summit, the Darfur genocide hits close to home. “My grandpa was in the Holocaust,” she said. “I have an interest in knowing about this. I want to know more about it. Someone else’s grandpa might flee. That’s the circle of life.”

And Alexandra Booth, 13, of Summit, who visited Auschwitz last summer, said she was stupefied to learn that another Holocaust is occurring. “It’s very hard to believe it’s happening again. We have to stop it.”

At least a few students said they plan to attend the April 30 rally in Washington, DC, whose aim is to draw attention to and stop the genocide in Darfur. Temple Sinai is one of 16 organizations statewide that has committed to sending buses to the rally, according to the American Jewish World Service, a rally sponsor that is serving as an organizer of the Jewish community for the event.

Gershon and Kahn were in agreement on the importance of the Darfur workshop. He said he believes the Jewish community has a particular responsibility to act. “The Jewish people are intimately acquainted with genocide and ethnic cleansing. We’ve been the victims of both, and therefore, if any people speak out on behalf of others, it needs to be us.”