Remembering a beloved teacher, reflecting on a tragedy

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Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway students were sadly reminded of the fragile nature of life in many ways last month. We came together to remember our beloved teacher, Dr. Hindi Krinsky, who tragically and suddenly lost her life earlier this year, and again to remember our fellow Jews in Pittsburgh who were brutally murdered simply because they were practicing their religion.

Mostly, our teenage days seem to run one into another, as we move from class to class, our nights filled with homework, school activities and time spent with family. It is easy to forget that we, as HAFTR students, are blessed to live in the Five Towns, a community that encourages helping each other in times of need, while allowing us the freedom to openly practice our religion without fear. In light of the tragic events that have confronted our student body of late, we have gained a new appreciation for our high school. HAFTR High School is always committed to exemplifying the importance of achdut (unity) in good times and bad.   

On Shabbat, Oct. 27, while many of us were safely ensconced in our own synagogues, an armed gunman murdered 11 people and injured six others. Together, the Jewish community worldwide suffered this unimaginable loss. Upon learning that the gunman shouted anti-Semitic slurs, committing the deadliest violent attack against Jews in United States history, many of us were shocked out of the safe cocoon that we often take for granted.

In response to this tragic event, HAFTR conducted a schoolwide assembly on Oct. 29, where senior students lit candles in memory of those who lost their lives. Students and faculty alike wore blue to show solidarity with the Pittsburgh community as well as with world Jewry. Although we did not personally know the Tree of Life victims, HAFTR High profoundly felt this as a loss of our own.

It was fitting that HAFTR students had already planned a memorial tournament to benefit the family of one of our very own teachers. Coincidentally, on the evening of the Pittsburgh shooting, HAFTR students had put together a basketball tournament to remember Dr. Hindi Krinsky, who was a brilliant scholar, a loving wife and mother, a talented and creative teacher, and an inspiring educational leader.

Students from across the community came together and took part in this fundraising event. The tournament was a great success, allowing students of Dr. Krinsky time to reflect on the loss of their teacher and role model. That event and the day of reflection for the Pittsburgh victims in the high school auditorium just days later demonstrated both the near and far-reaching effects that HAFTR has on the community at large.