The stories of the Righteous should be central to what we teach the next generation because remembering evil must also carry a responsibility to recognize and practice goodness.
asserted
remembering → teach → goodness
Children deserve to know what evil has done.
asserted
evil → deserve → what
They also deserve to know the names and choices of people who refused to surrender to it.
asserted
who → deserve → it
The Righteous Among the Nations were non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.
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who → risk → Holocaust
Their actions offer something every generation needs: evidence that conscience can become courage, and that one person’s decision can change the future of people they may never meet.
uncertain
they → offer → people
We ought to treat that inheritance as a responsibility.
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We → treat → responsibility
A recent conversation with Jonny Daniels, founder of From the Depths, brought that responsibility into focus for me.
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conversation → bring → me
His documentary, The Righteous Road Trip, follows his visits to rescuers whose extraordinary choices deserve to be carried into our families, communities, and public life.
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choices → follow → families
Their stories give us a way to speak about goodness with the seriousness it deserves.
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it → give → seriousness
One story Daniels shared concerned Jozef Jarosz, who was a boy when his family hid Jews in the Polish mountains.
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family → share → mountains
According to Daniels, Jozef’s father encountered Jews seeking help while visiting a nearby town for market day.
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father → accord → day
He brought two people home.
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He → bring → people
Eventually, the family was sheltering 14.
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family → shelter → 14
For close to three years, Daniels recounted, those Jews remained hidden beneath the family’s home.
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Jews → recount → home
Discovery could have brought death to the people in hiding and to those protecting them.
uncertain
Discovery → bring → them
His responsibility included keeping a secret on which lives depended.
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lives → include → which
He could not share his family’s courage with friends or seek recognition for it.
uncertain
He → share → it
Even an innocent remark could put everyone in danger.
uncertain
remark → put → danger
His contribution required discipline, restraint, and loyalty, qualities we can help the next generation develop long before any great test arrives.
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test → require → discipline
The detail I keep returning to is that, according to Daniels, Jozef’s father had little contact with Jews before the war.
uncertain
father → keep → war
When people approached him for help, there was no long-standing friendship obligating him to act.
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people → approach → him
He could have decided that their suffering was someone else’s responsibility.
uncertain
suffering → decide → ?
Instead, he brought them home.
asserted
he → bring → them
That is the inheritance I want us to pass down: a sense of responsibility that reaches beyond our own circle.
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that → want → circle
Teaching children to care for their families and communities is essential.
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Teaching → teach → families
We should also teach them to recognize when someone outside that circle needs their help.
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someone → teach → help
These rescuers did not consider themselves heroes, yet they accepted an obligation that so many others refused.
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others → consider → obligation
Their humility leaves us with a difficult question: How much suffering do we allow ourselves to overlook simply because it belongs to someone else?
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it → leave → someone
Daniels described people who believed they had simply done what was right.
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what → describe → people
They did not ask for gifts or consider themselves entitled to special attention.
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themselves → ask → attention
That makes our responsibility to remember them all the greater.
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responsibility → make → them
People should not have to seek recognition for their courage in order to receive our gratitude.
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People → have → gratitude
His visits demonstrate that gratitude can become a responsibility of its own.
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gratitude → demonstrate → own
He described rescuers who had tried to bring hidden Jews candles for Hanukkah.
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who → describe → Hanukkah
Decades later, when some of these elderly rescuers could no longer carry Christmas trees into their homes, he began bringing the trees himself.
uncertain
he → carry → trees
People who helped preserve Jewish life and dignity are having their own traditions honored by a Jewish man who remembers what they did.
asserted
they → help → what
Gratitude becomes a visit, a gift, an attentive friendship.
asserted
Gratitude → become → ?
“Thank you for remembering,” Daniels said rescuers have told him.
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rescuers → thank → him
We should take those words seriously.
asserted
We → take → words
Honoring people means caring about their lives beyond the moment that made them historically significant.
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them → honor → moment
…and 15 more, not listed.
The Aporia
