Journalists Jonah Kaplan and Shira Hanau Guide Names, Not Numbers Students
Nov 3, 2019 By: yunews
This year marks the 14th year that INC漏, the celebrated documentary series created by Tova Fish-Rosenberg where students produce documentaries of interviews with Holocaust survivors, will be offered to seniors at both the (MTA) and the (Central).
On Wednesday, Oct. 30, Jonah Kaplan, an investigative reporter with ABC11 Eyewitness News, returned to MTA to help the students learn important interview techniques in preparation for their upcoming interviews with Holocaust survivors. 鈥淵ou are speaking with Jewish heroes, and you have a heroic task ahead of you,鈥 Kaplan said to the group. 鈥淭he mitzvah that you are undertaking in this project is one of the greatest responsibilities you will bear in your lifetime.鈥
Jonah Kaplan (left) counsels two students on interviewing techniques
On Thursday, Oct. 31, Shira Hanau, staff writer for The Jewish Week, gave an interviewing workshop at Central. To Hanau, memory and stories are central to Judaism, and 鈥渕y job is really a privilege because I get to take a first pass at creating communal memory, writing the stories that one day will become part of a broader narrative in the story of the Jewish people.鈥 She added that 鈥渢hese students participating in Names, Not Numbers ensure that the stories of yesterday aren鈥檛 forgotten in the face of what鈥檚 new today. It鈥檚 critical that every generation remembers what came before and make the connections between where we came from, where we are now and where we鈥檙e headed. I hope that by teaching some of the skills the students will use in their interviews with survivors, I can contribute to the telling of more Jewish stories.鈥
Shira Hauna works with a student on how to ask the right questions
Jonah Kaplan (left) counsels two students on interviewing techniques
Shira Hauna works with a student on how to ask the right questions
