by George Elbaum
This was my 6th time speaking at the University of San Francisco (USF), a Jesuit Catholic university. Founded in 1855, USF was the city’s first university, and it is the third oldest institution for higher learning in California. Its student body numbers approximately 10,600, with 62% undergraduates and 38% postgraduates, and its faculty numbers approximately 1,200, of which 41% are full-time and 59% are part-time, or adjunct. Religious and spiritual organizations on campus include the Muslim Student Union, the USF chapter of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and the USF Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life.
My talk at USF this year was for 20 students in an undergraduate course entitled Holocaust and Genocide, which is one of the selective subjects in USF’s Department of Theology and Religious Studies. It was organized by its teacher Dr. Alexis Herr, with my involvement initiated by Sadie Simon and finalized by Patrick Dunne of the JFCS Holocaust Center.
Letters from Students
Several weeks after my talk at USF I received an envelope with 20 letters from the 20 students that attended the talk. From these letters I chose 10 statements that resonated with me, including one very long and one very sentimental one, below.
- You are the first survivor I have ever met and listened to, and I wanted to let you know how much your story moved and impacted me deeply. Keep telling your story, it is surely changing hearts and minds.
- If you say that you are here by luck, then I think it is because the world is lucky to have you in it.
- I am so happy that you chose to share your story and that you so openly give a part of yourself to the audience.
- I thank your wife Mimi for getting the ball rolling in the first place by encouraging you to write your book.
- I hope to meet someone who talks about me as lovingly as you talk about your wife.
- Do continue to talk about your perspective and inspire others like you have done with me – stories like yours do matter. Thank you again for coming to talk with us.
- Your story and your life have shown me that no matter what, it is best to be kind, understanding, and compassionate. I will never forget you.
- I wanted to take the time to write this note to express my gratitude for your vulnerability and openness with our class.
- Your stories of hard work and passion for the aerospace industry and airplanes is a reminder to love for what we do in life, because we are lucky to have a passion.
- It is easy to disregard luck, but my peers and I have experienced so much luck to just be sitting in the room with you today. I hope you and your wife Mimi have an excellent 50-year anniversary and are able to celebrate many more. Your love story (although not the main focus of your visit) is inspiring. Thank you for giving back – you are making the world a better place
