Video Extras for Schools

These short videos offer students the opportunity to explore specific themes and examples of community solidarity presented in Repairing the World: Stories from the Tree of Life. You can find additional video extras from the film online here.

Allderdice High School Basketball Team Remembers the Victims

Students at Allderdice High School in Squirrel Hill were highly affected by the events at Tree of Life Synagogue. Many knew the victims personally, and the entire community was in mourning. In honor of the 11 victims, Allderdice basketball team put 11 seconds on the clock before every home game as a moment of silence. The team and other students also planted trees to remember those who were lost.

Students Engage in Challenging Conversations

After the attack at the Tree of Life Synagogue, students enrolled in AP Civics class at Allderdice High School studied antisemitism and how it affects the Jewish community. The next semester, they expanded the conversation to examine racism and historical practices of redlining and suppressing voting rights. Students appreciated the opportunity to discuss these challenging topics together with no judgment.

Global Minds: Creating a Sense of Belonging

At age 15, Allderdice High School student Peyton Klein founded the Global Minds Initiative to bring together ESL students and native English speakers and create an inclusive space in the most exclusive place – high school. This video features student interactions at a Global Minds Initiative club meeting.

Havdalah Service: Lest We Forget

On November 9, 2019, students from the Hillel at the University of Pittsburgh held a special Havdalah service to bring a close to Shabbat. The date – November 9 – marked the anniversary of Kristallnacht (“the night of broken glass”), when Nazis destroyed Jewish homes, synagogues, and businesses and killed close to 100 Jews in Germany in 1938. The Hillel students held the service at the Lest We Forget exhibit in Pittsburgh, which displayed 16 intimate, large-scale portraits of Holocaust survivors from the Pittsburgh area. One year after the attack in Pittsburgh, the exhibit allowed people to learn local community members' stories and understand the continued threat antisemitism poses.