By World ORT Board Member Austin Center
“The main reason for choosing the Vilnius Sholom Aleichem ORT High School for our daughters was because of the story of my great-grandfather, Jonas Sadauska – driven by what is right, rooted in family values to support a family, a friend, your community in need.” Milda Dzidolikiene, whose two children aged nine and 13 are students at the school
Last May, I had the honor of joining World ORT leaders from across the globe in Vilnius, Lithuania, for the organization’s Council of Representatives and National Directors’ meetings. Attendees are leaders and professional staff from more than 30 countries where World ORT has either programs, schools, or operations. To be around passionate like-minded people whose work is for the purpose of raising up others was truly inspiring.
During our time in Lithuania, we visited many Jewish sites: the historic Jewish Ghetto, the area where the Great Synagogue of Vilna once stood, the Gaon of Vina Memorial Site, the Paneriai Memorial Site where more than 100,000 people – primarily Jews – were murdered. We also visited Šeduva, a small town outside of Vilnius, where we visited the Lost Shtetl Museum, which is an amazing institution, and the new public Seduva School, where ORT Ukraine has contributed expertise to modernize STEAM learning.
The most inspiring visit was to the Vilnius Sholom Aleichem ORT High School. Seeing the students and our ORT education literally at work by touring the classrooms and meeting the students truly reinforces the great work ORT does around the world.
After our visit to the school, we had the honor of attending a reception with parents of students at the school. This reinforced for me how special World ORT is and the impact of an ORT education on people’s lives. At this reception, I had the chance to meet Milda Dzidolikiene, whose two children attend the school. I asked her why she and her husband had decided to send their daughters to the ORT school, and this is where I learned something extraordinary about our impact.
Milda talked about her great-grandfather, Jonas Sadauskas, who owned a stable outside of Vilnius. During World War II, it was forbidden by law to help Jews yet, despite risking his own life and that of his family, Jonas did just that by saving a Jewish girl, Rachel Jaminaite, whom he found alone in a forest. Rachel miraculously survived the mass murder of Jews of Gargždai, as she escaped execution by pretending to be dead and then fleeing to the forest, where Milda’s great-grandfather found her. As Milda said, “This was the right choice; my great-grandfather was driven by his values and not by the law [determining] what is ‘right’.”
Jonas was a teacher who, with his own personal and family funds, built a school where he taught. As a teacher, he was considered a threat when the Russians came because intelligent people were viewed as suspicious. He was deported and put in prison, where he died. Jonas was posthumously awarded Lithuania’s Life Saving Cross for rescuing Jews during the Holocaust. Rachel survived the war thanks to him. She married and became a nurse, remaining close to the Sadauskas family and referred to them as her “second” family.
Our collective values of what is right and just are shown through Jonas’ action of caring for another. These values are not just words we speak about when we talk about the work World ORT does. We instill these values in the way we live our lives and through our actions that define who we are and why we support World ORT.
Milda wanted to share with her children those values her great-grandfather embodied. She found them in Vilnius Sholom Aleichem ORT High School, which instills them in its students. World ORT instills our collective Jewish values – the values of helping the stranger, educating the young, charity, and tikkun olam – through our teachers, our students, our volunteers, and our programs.
We make a difference in people’s lives through our actions, our voice, and our dollars. It is an honor to be a part of the great history of World ORT and to continue the legacy of those who came before us as we work together to make the world a better place for the next generation.
We lead with our collective Jewish values; the very same values Milda wants for her children, and the same values her great-grandfather lived by. These are the same values World ORT instills in our students.
