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Nick Bowman Features Editor | 770-718-3426 | life@gainesvilletimes.com
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gainesvilletimes.com
Saturday, December 8, 2018
‘Teaching the next generations’
HT OF TORAH
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Photos by CLEM MURRAY I Tribune News Service
Above: Sid Moszer and wife Eva, 88, with a display of
torahs at Congregation Brothers of Israel in Newtown.
Left: Sidney Moszer in the sanctuary of Congregation
Brothers of Israel synagogue in Newtown.
At 93, Holocaust survivor Sidney Moszer still teaches lessons from the Torah — and his life
BY KRISTIN E. HOLMES
Tribune News Service
For almost half a century, Jew
ish students in Bucks County, Pa.,
have been learning the intrica
cies of chanting the Torah from a
man who, when he was their age,
was running for his life.
When Sidney Moszer was 13,
the Cologne synagogue at which
he had his bar mitzvah was
torched during Kristallnacht, the
Nazi pogrom in Germany.
Through Kristallnach, which
occurred Nov. 9-10,1938, a hun
dred Jews were killed. After
ward, 30,000 were arrested and
sent to concentration camps,
their communities destroyed.
Moszer and his family fled, and
two months later were on a train
headed for England. The jour
ney would ultimately take him to
the United States and bring gen
erations of Jewish youth under
his tutelage, a calling for which
Moszer, now 93, is being honored.
During Shabbat services last
Saturday, before the start of
Hanukkah this week, families at
Congregation Brothers of Israel
in Newtown, praised Moszer for
not only tutoring the synagogue
children in Torah recitation for
their bar and bat mitzvahs, but
also for being an exemplar of
survival when all seems lost.
“You are teaching them our
way of living and how to love who
they are,” Joan Hersch, syna
gogue education director, told
Moszer during an interview.
His voice choking, he replied,
“That’s why I get so emotional.”
“We’ll cry together,” Hersch
said.
Moszer, a retired aeronauti
cal engineer, has been teaching
at the Congregation Brothers of
Israel for 18 years, and since the
1970s at Congregation Beth El in
Yardley, where he is a member.
He and his wife, Eva, were wit
nesses to the early years of the
Holocaust. She was 8 when she
and her sister escaped from Ber
lin as part of the Kindertransport,
rescue of 10,000 children, most of
them Jewish, from Europe nine
months before World War II
began. The sisters lived in Eng
land for a decade before immi
grating to the U.S. and being
reunited with their parents, who
had managed to hide out in Ger
many during the war.
Sid Moszer is one of 25 Holo
caust survivors who speak at
events throughout the region
for the Holocaust Awareness
Museum and Education Center
at the KleinLif e community cen
ter in Northeast Philadelphia.
When he talks about his years
as a German schoolboy and the
deadly chaos that surrounded
him, he must pause periodically
to rein in his emotions.
“You live with this insecurity
and uncertain feeling, and that
feeling is always in the back of
your mind,” he said.
It still is, he added.
On Nov. 9, 1938, Moszer was
living with his mother and three
siblings — his father, a Polish
Jew, had been expelled, and an
older brother was on his own —
in an apartment on the edge of
a park in Cologne. As the Nazis
burned synagogues
and vandalized Jew
ish homes and busi
nesses, the family
fled the apartment,
waiting in the park
for hours until the
violence of Kristall
nacht ended the
next afternoon and
they could return.
They imme
diately began
planning to flee
Germany. Moszer’s
father managed
to get back from
Poland and the
family secured
transit visas to Eng
land because a rel
ative lived there.
After 21 months, on
Oct. 4,1940, they left for Amer
ica — what he calls “the great
est day of my life.”
The family later moved to
Philadelphia. In 1944, Moszer
was drafted into the Army and
wound up with the infantry in
France. At the end of the war,
he was assigned to the U.S.
Counter Intelligence Corps as
an interpreter for agents inter
rogating Nazis.
He and Eva married in
1954 and had three sons,
five grandchildren and nine
great-grandchildren.
Tutoring the Torah was at
first a favor for a friend who
was dissatisfied with his son’s
bar mitzvah education. Other
parents at Congregation Beth
El recruited Moszer, and even
tually he was pressed into ser
vice at Congregation Brothers
of Israel.
“He taught us about reaching
our maximum potential — and
instilled in us that it should be
our minimum expectation,”
said Gregory Segarra, a former
student.
Moszer teaches each student
the section of the Torah, the
Haftorah (selections from the
biblical books of the prophets)
and the blessings that are read
in synagogue on the day of the
bar or bat mitzvah, and the pre
scribed chants for each section’s
recitation.
His lessons are never cookie-
cutter, said Rebecca Wind,
13, of Newtown.
“He changes his
(approach) to make
sure it was the best
way for you to
learn. He works at
your speed.”
Lessons are usu
ally one-on-one,
an hour a week,
for six months.
He has met with
students in syna
gogue classrooms,
in offices and hall
ways. He describes
his mission as not
only teaching,
but also easing
fears and instilling
confidence.
“I talk to them
on their level,” he
said. “I don’t talk down to them,
and I try to connect.”
He doesn’t “involve parents”
in the lessons, because “that
doesn’t work.”
In 1999, Moszer attended a
reunion of the Kindertransport
with his wife in London and the
event helped him realize the
importance of his mission and
the triumph his life represents.
“I realized that the ones who
wanted us dead are gone, and
we are still here,” he said. “And
here I am, teaching the next
generations.”
‘I realized that
the ones who
wanted us
dead are gone,
and we are still
here. And here
I am, teaching
the next
generations.’
Sidney Moszer
Holocaust survivor
Associated Press
Firefighters are at the Fasanenstrasse synagogue, Berlin’s biggest house of
Jewish worship, after Nazis set fire to it in anti-Jewish demonstrations throughout
Germany known as Kristallnacht, Nov. 9,1938.
FAITH EVENTS
Christmas Lunch. Noon to 3 p.m. Dec. 8.
Mount Zion Baptist Church, 4000 Thurmon
Tanner Road, Flowery Branch. mzbcinfo@
yahoo.com.
Georgia 2018 Christmas Tour. 6 p.m. Dec.
8. Pond Fork Baptist Church, 2615 Pond
Fork Church Road, Pendergrass.
706-693-2442.
Wishes and Candles. Christmas concert.
7-8:30 p.m. Dec. 8-9. The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Sugar
Hill Stake), 4833 Suwanee Dam Road,
Suwanee. 404-375-7882 or cketchem@
ldspublicaffairs.org.
Christmas In Color. Visual artistry, live
music and the story of Christmas. 9-10:30
a.m., 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 5-6:30
p.m. Dec. 9. Free Chapel, 3001 McEver
Road, Gainesville. 678-677-8300 or
alexisramgopal@gmail.com.
Christmas Musical. 4-6 p.m. Dec. 9.
Mount Zion Baptist Church, 4000 Thurmon
Tanner Road, Flowery Branch. mzbcinfo@
yahoo.com.
Marriage Enrichment. 9-9:45 a.m. Dec. 9
and Jan. 13. Mount Zion Baptist Church,
4000 Thurmond Tanner Road, Flowery
Branch. 770-967-3722 or mzbcinfo@
yahoo.com.
Christmas Under The Stars. Uplifting music
and after party with Santa, snow, crafts,
food and more. 7-8:30 p.m. Dec. 12. Free
Chapel, 3001 McEver Road, Gainesville.
alexisramgopal@gmail.com.
“The Stable, The Star and The Tree.”
Community Christmas program. Pizza
served after performance. 6:30 p.m. Dec.
12. Mount Carmel Baptist Church, 2405
Ga. 51 S, Lula. 770-503-5469.
Christmas Lessons and Carols. 8:45 a.m.
Dec. 16. Cumming First United Methodist
Church, 770 Canton Highway, Cumming.
The LeFevre Quartet. 6 p.m. Dec. 16.
Lighthouse Baptist Church, 329 Harmony
Church Road, Dawsonville.
Red Church Hymnal Singing. 6 p.m. Dec.
16. Mountain View Baptist Church, 3765
Mountain View Road, Gainesville.
“Happy Birthday, Jesus” party. Bouncy
house, hot cocoa, smores, cake, ice cream
and party bags. 7 p.m. Dec. 19. Rock Hill
Church, 4115 Price Road, Gainesville.
Singles Enrichment/Empowerment. 9-9:45
a.m. Dec. 23, Jan. 27, Feb. 24 and March
24. Mount Zion Baptist Church, 4000
Thurmond Tanner Road, Flowery Branch.
mzbcinfo@yahoo.com.
Christmas Eve Candlelight Service. 4
p.m. and 6 p.m. Dec. 24. Free Chapel,
3001 McEver Road, Gainesville.
alexisramgopal@gmail.com.
The LeFevre Quartet and Sounds Of
Jericho. 7 p.m. Dec. 28. The Venue
at Christ Place Church, 3494 Atlanta
Highway, Oakwood.
Movie Night. 7 p.m. Jan. 26, Feb. 23 and
March 30. Chicopee United Methodist
Church, 3 First St., Gainesville.
770-634-6803 or pegflute@yahoo.com.
Rethinking Retirement. Retreat to
encourage and equip elders for the work
of discipling the next generation. 9 a.m.
Feb. 15 to 10 a.m. Feb. 17. Ark on Lake
Lanier, 6250 Old Dawsonville Road,
Gainesville.
David Marsh, theater organist. 3 p.m.
Feb. 17. Cumming First United Methodist
Church, 770 Canton Highway, Cumming.
Darrell and Dawn Ritchie. Noon Feb. 26.
Concord Baptist Church, 6905 Concord
Road, Cumming.
ONGOING
Celebrate Recovery. 6:15-9 p.m. every
Friday. Dinner, large group service and
small groups. Children’s ministry available
for children of all ages. CrossBridge
Community Church, 751 Ga. 53 E,
Dawsonville. $2-3. 770-883-2576 or
slreeves2@yahoo.com.
Free clothing store. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
every Tuesday. Infant, children and adult
clothing available for those in need.
Donations appreciated. Holy Trinity
Anglican Church, 7049 Spout Springs
Road, Flowery Branch. 678-336-6964.
Gentle Hearts Ministry Food Pantry.
Distribution of food. 5-6 p.m. every
Wednesday. St. Paul United Methodist
Church, 705 Summit St., Gainesville.
770-536-4910.
Senior adult choir. 1 p.m. Wednesdays.
First Presbyterian Church, 800 S. Enota
Drive, Gainesville. Membership not
required. 770-532-0136.
