Firefighters deeply moved by doing course
"There wasn't a dry eye in the room when 96-year-old survivor, Olga, shared her story – and that's from a group who, as firefighters, are used to going to horrific situations," Vaysbakh said.
“I was absolutely blown away,” was how one of 18 Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) personnel described participating in the Sydney Jewish Museum’s (SJM) Resilience and Empathy course on June 13.
Comprising 15 firefighters, two station officers and one inspector, the group was the first from FRNSW to do the museum’s half-day workshop.
They began with a one-hour meeting with Holocaust survivor Olga Horak, followed by a guided tour of the museum, and finally a seminar with a psychologist, who encouraged them to develop an understanding of the importance of empathy, drawing on lessons taken from one of the darkest periods in history.
The group included two Jewish firefighters, Lisa Eisenberg and Eddie Vaysbakh, and its members were able to do the course thanks to sponsorship from Andre and Eva Jaku, in memory of their father, and father-in-law, the late Holocaust survivor Eddie Jaku.
Vaysbakh, a senior firefighter based in Bondi, told The AJN that the impact of the course on the group was evident.
“There wasn’t a dry eye in the room when 96-year-old survivor, Olga, shared her story – and that’s from a group who, as firefighters, are used to going to horrific situations,” Vaysbakh said.
The sponsorship is enough to fund a further 42 places for FRNSW staff to do the course, and Vaysbakh said, “It is my hope that beyond that, every new FRNSW recruit gets to do it.
“For the younger generation of firefighters, we want them to understand what led to, and happened during, the Holocaust, and that without empathy, society even today remains vulnerable.
“And people can often forget that the traumatic impact of the Holocaust is intergenerational.
“More broadly, it’s important to show empathy in our jobs at all times, and understand that people we assist and rescue may be going through things that we don’t know about.”
SJM’s acting head of education, Sandy Hollis, said the museum “runs this course for professionals from diverse fields; we’ve had a lot of first responders like paramedics and police officers do this course, and it’s wonderful to have had our first group of firefighters”.
Thanking Andre and Eva Jaku for their sponsorship, in memory of Eddie Jaku, she added, “It was an honour for me to have worked with Eddie, who was very involved and instrumental in this program.”
To find more about opportunities to sponsor the SJM’s Resilience and Empathy course, and its other education programs, phone Rita Prager on 0416 252 526.
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