Holocaust Survivor to Speak at Tufts

Holocaust survivor Eliezer Ayalon. Photo courtesy www.yadvashem.org.

Holocaust survivor Eliezer Ayalon will share his story at Tufts University on Tuesday in conjunction with a new Holocaust and Genocide Education program planned by the university.

Ayalon was born in 1928 in Poland and survived the atrocities of a Polish ghetto and five concentration camps before he was liberated, near death, in 1945. After the war he moved to Israel, where he served as a soldier in the 1948 War of Independence.

Ayalon began sharing his story because he felt it had to get out to people.

“For 37 years I didn’t tell anybody what had happened to me; and then I understood that it was my duty. I became a witness,” he said.

His memoirs, A Cup of Honey, were published in Israel, the US, Mexico and Costa Rica.

The lecture and education program are the unexpected result of an encounter between Ayalon and Catholic Winchester entrepreneur, and philanthropist and Bill Cummings that took place a year ago when Cummings, a Tufts alumnus, and his wife, Joyce, made their first-ever trip to Israel, said university spokeswoman Kim Thurler.

The trip was one of several organized by Tufts for alumni, and on the final day the Cummings toured the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. Cummings was moved to tears after hearing Ayalon share his story of survival. Cummings said he and his wife gained “a new understanding of history and how injustice corrodes the most cherished values of society.”

Ayalon’s personal account inspired the couple to think broadly about how education could help prevent such a horrific tragedy from ever happening again. They decided to channel that experience into something positive and pledged $1 million to launch a Holocaust and Genocide Education program at Tufts. The initiative, which will be administered by Tufts Hillel, will touch on both historical and current affairs, from the Holocaust to Rwanda, and will emphasize interfaith programming, said Thurler.

The money will be donated as a dollar for dollar matching challenge, with the gift coming from an unusual source– the new, Cummings-owned Beacon Grille restaurant of Woburn, which has committed all of its profits to the cause of genocide education and prevention. Tufts Hillel has already begun raising needed funds.

As a precursor to the new program, Beacon Grille previously financed an initiative that sent 20 Tufts students on an interfaith group mission to the Agahozo Shalom Youth Village in Rwanda, a village established for orphans of the Rwandan genocide.

Ayalon’s lecture at Tufts on Tuesday is free and open to the public and will take place in Cabot Auditorium, 160 Packard Ave., Medford, from 8 to 10 p.m. It will be streamed live on the Tufts Hillel website.

– InsideMedford.com