Last Sunday, Drumthwacket, the Governor's Residence in Princeton, was the setting for a Holocaust book signing event and educational kickoff promotion for the latest classroom tool to educate students against the evils of bias, prejudice and intolerance. "Words for All Time: Students' Letters to Holocaust Survivors," presents these important lessons in students' own words.

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine was on hand to greet many of the thirty-five survivors featured in the book who, along with family members, attended the event to speak and autograph copies.

The book, a project of the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education, was edited and published by former Jewish Times Managing Editor Rob Huberman. Rob compiled the book from among a thousand letters, poems and writings of New Jersey school children after a Holocaust survivor visited their school to tell students about their own childhood experiences at the hands of the Nazis.

"This book represents only a fraction of the many letters received by Holocaust survivors after speaking to students in elementary, middle and high school classrooms," said Commission Executive Director Dr. Paul B. Winkler. "But these few letters do express the breadth of emotions and depth of understanding felt by students after listening to a survivor tell his or her story." The book also includes a short message by each survivor to readers, conveying their thoughts on humanity, providing encouragement to students to remember the lessons of history and not repeat the same mistakes, and expressing their hopes for the next generation to take into the future.

Michael Berenbaum, Professor of Jewish Studies at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles and former Director of Research Institute at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. states, "The encounter between students and Holocaust survivors in classrooms throughout the United States is one of the most morally compelling and emotionally moving educational experiences available to students today. "Words for All Time" documents that experience, giving voice to the imperative that survivors feel to bear witness and to the response of students to that very act of witness. Sadly, they will be among the last to experience this privilege. Happily, the New Jersey Holocaust Commission has captured this experience in a work that is charming, moving and compelling."

Four area survivors are featured in the book: Sonia Kaplan, Betty Grebeschikoff, Rose Zelkovitz and the late Janet Moskowitz. Former Jewish Times Assistant Editor Jackie Caplan provided the graphic design. "Words for All Time" is available at ComteQpublishing.com or by calling 487-9000.