By Carl Zebrowski
Editor

It was a testament to the great importance the Lehigh Valley Jewish community puts on its Jewish Day School, on Eva z”l and Larry Levitt, and on its Holocaust education mission that so many people packed into the JDS second floor on September 12 for the ceremonial opening of its new Eva and Larry Levitt Jewish Learning and Cultural Center.

In the hallway outside the center, overflowing with excited community members, Levitt family members cut the giant red ribbon to officially open the facility for JDS kids and visitors to use. “I’d like to thank Eva, who inspired hundreds of people in the Lehigh Valley, many of whom are here,” Larry said.

Sean Boyle, the school librarian who oversaw the creation of the center, noted some of the new center’s highlights. Among them are Holocaust artifacts from Eva and her family members in the former Czechoslovakia, a Holocaust-related book collection that includes illustrated works for children, and digital access to Holocaust survivor accounts. 

“The purpose of center is to raise Jewish literacy of the community,” Boyle said. Part of that purpose is to continue the longtime educational work of the Holocaust Resource Center, which was recently moved from the JCC to be part of the Levitt Center. Shari Spark will continue her work as HRC coordinator, including organizing and overseeing visits around the Lehigh Valley to teach students and others about the Holocaust as part of the effort to encourage conversation and reduce prejudice. 

Joanna Powers, JDS head of school, thanked Boyle for his work. “Mr. Boyle was ready and willing to take on this project. He fine-tuned every last detail. This was all done somehow while was being our librarian.” She said the JDS students are thankful for his efforts too. “They can’t wait to learn and grow with this center.”

Among the many books available at the Levitt Center is “Evitchka: A True Story of Survival, Hope, and Love.” Coauthored by Stephanie Smartschan and Larry, the book released in 2024 tells of Eva’s experiences as a young girl in Czechoslovakia hiding from the Nazis and continues into her adulthood as a leader in the Lehigh Valley Jewish community. 

Smartschan introduced the idea of the butterfly effect to the occasion, sometimes expressed as “A butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil can cause a tornado in Texas.” An example she gave was Eva surviving the Holocaust to later in life help save the life of a girl whose family hid her and her mother from the Nazis.

Dr. Yan Lupyan was a surprise guest at the event, added late to the speaking program. He picked up on the butterfly effect theme, applying it to Larry. Lupyan immigrated to the United States about three decades ago. 

“When I came here,” he said, “I was introduced to the author of the book of neurology for all of America. There are 20,000 neurologists in the United States, and everybody was reading his book.

“Can you imagine how many people have been treated thanks to Larry Levitt? He is here seated one of the most prominent neurologists in the United States. And the butterfly effect affects thousands and thousands of people.”

The day was clearly an honor for the Levitt family, well-represented at this event recognizing Eva and Larry and their decades of commitment to strengthening the Jewish community here and everywhere and making the world a better place. 

“It’s just exciting to see my parents’ life’s work represented in some permanent location, because they contributed so much and they wanted to help the world,” their son, Marc Levitt, said. “I think there’s a lot of opportunity to learn from people like them. I think for the center to be housed in a place of education, where there are kids, and kids can see what got them to this place and honor that memory, that’s very special for me.”

Eva and Larry’s daughter Lora Vaknin said, “I think it’s important for students and other people in the community to be able to utilize the center in a productive, successful manner—not only the Jewish students, but also Christian and other students from other religions, in order to learn about the Holocaust, about World War II.”

Grandson Samuel Levitt is currently living in Allentown and came to the event. “I still think about my grandma, Bubbe, Eva,” he said, “and the impact that she had on me was incredible, inspiring me to work hard and to be a good person. I think about her a lot, and it’s just an honor to be here and to be celebrating them.”

Larry has set up an endowment fund to keep the Levitt Center operating into the future. You can contribute to that fund by contacting Aaron Gorodzinsky at [email protected] or 610-821-5500.