Courtesy of Congregation Brothers of Israel
For 18 years, the late Sid Moszer taught the b’nai mitzvah students at Congregation Brothers of Israel in Newtown, passing down a love of Judaism to future generations with passion derived in part from Moszer’s experiences in Germany during Nazi rule.
Moszer was 13 years old when his synagogue in Cologne, Germany, was torched during Kristallnacht, and a few months later, he fled with his family, ending up in the U.S. He became a mechanical engineer, married a fellow survivor and moved to Levittown with his family.
In retirement, Moszer wasn’t done working when he helped a young CBOI member prepare for his bar mitzvah.
“Our rabbi at the time went to him and said, ‘Sid, how about being our bar mitzvah teacher?’ He [Moszer] said, ‘Me, yeah, I’m not a teacher.’ And he said, ‘I’ve watched you with this kid, and I think you’re wrong.’ And thus started a wonderful relationship with Sid being our b’nai mitzvah teacher,” said Joan Hersch, the synagogue’s education director.
Hersch explained that being around Moszer, who wasn’t a trained teacher, was an education in itself, and his lived experiences were invaluable to the generations of kids he taught.
“Every kid knew his story. He would talk to them. They would ask him questions. He was one of the most loving and kind men, and he was most appreciative of having been given the opportunity, in spite of what had happened to him and what had happened to millions of Jews in Nazi Germany, that he could help Judaism survive by working with the kids,” Hersch said. Moszer died on April 16, 2023, at 97, leaving a community in mourning and looking for a way to honor a survivor, educator and inspirational figure.
“When we had his funeral, I was most proud of the kids who showed up, the kids who wanted to come, kids who came home from college for the weekend, who insisted on coming home to be at Mr. Moszer’s funeral,” Hersch said.
After Moszer’s death, Hersch and the rest of the community were searching for a way to honor his life and legacy. Hersch found an answer with The Daffodil Project, an initiative to create a living Holocaust memorial by planting 1.5 million daffodils around the world in memory of the children killed during the Holocaust.
The organization’s leaders chose daffodils because of their shape and color, both of which resemble the yellow stars that Jews were forced to wear during the Holocaust. Yellow is a color for remembrance, and the yearly bloom represents renewal and hope.
Hersch said she thought the daffodil garden would be a fitting tribute to Moszer because of the renewal aspect. It’s not a tribute that can be quickly forgotten or that will go away.
The Daffodil Project has planted 1,235,000 bulbs so far, reaching roughly 82% of its goal, according to its website.
The flowers in CBOI’s Sid Moszer Daffodil Garden of Remembrance are now part of that 1,235,000, as the community came together and planted 700 daffodil bulbs in September 2024 in an effort that was poetically a b’nai mitzvah project.
“I have a kid in the religious school; at the time, he was 12. He had not had his bar mitzvah yet, but his father is an architect, and he loves being outside. He loves working here, and we were trying to find an appropriate mitzvah project for him,” Hersch explained. “He was not taught by Mr. Moszer, but his sister and brother were, so he had met him many times, and he decided to take on the project.”
Hersch said the synagogue has seen the flowers in bloom twice since they were planted, and she spoke about the symbolic message they carry.
“You see these beautiful yellow bulbs [that say] we are resilient, we are here, we’re not going anywhere. And that’s the message we want this garden to bring, just like Sid. He came out of the dark through this yellow, beautiful bulb,” Hersch said.
Hersch said that the synagogue’s intention with the garden is that, every year on Yom HaShoah, congregants will go outside and have a period of remembrance.
“He deserved the garden of gold. We gave him yellow daffodils, but I know he would like that,” Hersch said.