Rachel Libman

Rachel Libman, curator at the Toronto Holocaust Museum, was born in Ottawa. Her family moved to Toronto for better work opportunities and to be part of a larger Jewish community; she joined Netivot in 1990 (grade 3). It was, “such a different lifestyle for me; suddenly surrounded by Shomrei Shabbat friends… I really loved it, I felt very comfortable and at home; I had a great education and trajectory. I credit a lot of my Hebrew language and Gemara skills to teachers like the Grysmans. I had a really strong foundation from Netivot, made some lifelong friends, and now maintain community based connections.” Rachel attended Ulpanat Orot, Midreshet Lindenbaum, and completed her 2 masters degrees here (history and museum studies, both at UofT).

Rachel can trace her first interest in museums to a visit she made to the Beit Hatfusot (ANU) museum in Israel, specifically to an exhibit that contained models of different shuls from around the world. “I was really enthralled by that. I hadn’t had a lot of exposure to a lot of different kinds of lifestyles, practices, and communities; I had a pretty sheltered modern orthodox upbringing. And so, I was really amazed by that diversity and what a Jewish museum could be…”

“I got a contract at the then-Holocaust Centre with UJA Federation, working on specific projects, then grew into the public programs role; a different type of curatorial work. Our former museum was small and not conducive to the way we teach the Holocaust today. It didn’t meet the needs of learners today. It relied on in-person survivor testimony and that became incredibly challenging as the survivors were aging.” Rachel explains that there were various plans for a new museum at different times that didn’t materialize. In 2019, Rachel was part of a small team that planned the Holocaust museum renewal, which eventually moved out of the old space and started fresh on the second floor of the Sheff Family Building at the Prosserman JCC. “We got approval for that in January 2020 right as everything shut down for Covid– which actually gave us more time and flexibility to plan this new space!”

The brand-new Toronto Holocaust Museum launched this past June. Rachel expands: “The vision was to continue the legacy of our survivor founders and be true to that essence of survivor-led learning about the Holocaust. Visitors engage with the challenging history in a local context that emphasizes its relevance for the average visitor. We layered in new technology; we have 11 different large-scale testimony stations throughout the museum, tablet tours with augmented reality, and interactive maps. There is a lot of self-directed learning, people can engage with what they want, guided through their visit by survivors who made new lives in Canada. We have 220 minutes of clips from more than 70 individual survivors…and a select collection of artifacts that help people make connections.”

Rachel still oversees all the museum’s public programs, as there is plenty of ongoing curatorial work, enhancing new technologies, and writing grant applications.

“Netivot brought grade 8 to the museum. I was so proud to see that link and connection. Your alumni are doing really wonderful things, and for your students to see careers that are different and interesting and off the beaten path… kids can see that you can do things you never thought about.” 

Rachel is married to Gerald Lazar and they are parents of 1 Netivot student and 1 incoming Netivot student.