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Holocaust Memorial Education Center

Shimon and Sara Birnbaum Jewish Community Center

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Descendant Profile

ARON GOODMAN

ARON

GOODMAN

THIRD GENERATION

DESCENDANT:

ARON GOODMAN  

 

First Recipient,  

Outstanding Student Holocaust Education Award ( 2022) for TovaTok Project

 

 

  • DESCENDANT BIOGRAPHY

    Aron Goodman is high school senior living in Morristown NJ. One summer, he travelled with his grandmother, Tova Friedman, who is a Holocaust survivor, to Auschwitz and he was so moved by what he saw there, that he never forgot it.  Then, last year, when he was a junior in high school, he decided to share his grandmother’s story so he created a series of videos which focus on educating kids and young adults about the Holocaust and he posted them on TikTok. That is how he created Tovatok. The response he got was overwhelming and now he has over 150  videos that have been seen by over 75 million people around the world, and he has over half a million followers.

    He now visits schools and organizations to talk about hate, discrimination and how it is our responsibility to act if we see something wrong.  He has been interviewed by TV stations around the world, and has been featured in more than 50 newspapers, magazines and internet publications. He has collaborated with over 50 different organizations including governments, Holocaust memorials and universities. 

    He was a winner of the Stronger than Hate Challenge from the USC Shoah Foundation, and awarded the first Outstanding Student Holocaust Education award from the SSBJCC Holocaust Memorial Education Center, and the Upstander award from the NJ Dept of Education/Holocaust Education Commission. In 2023 Aron received the Diller Tikkun Olam Award for project, TovaTok and world-wide speaking engagements.

    He will be attending Washington University in St. Louis starting Fall 2023 and plans to remain active in Holocaust Education. He lives Morristown with his family including his twin brother Noah and his older brothers, Ari and Eitan. 

  • DESCENDANT SUBMISSION(s):

    TOVATOK HOLOCAUST EDUCATION By Aron Goodman

    Mission: Use social media to reach the younger generations and educate them about the horrors of the Holocaust in an approachable and understandable manner to combat the rise in antisemitism online, teach tolerance and encourage action against hate and injustice.

    Goal: The goals of my project are to educate young people about the Holocaust, combat anti-Semitism, teach tolerance and encourage action against injustice. I accomplish this through videos that show a first-hand account of Auschwitz. Most of the people I reach have never heard a survivor speak. Some have never even heard of the Holocaust in general before watching my videos. We discuss various issues including the rise in anti-Semitism, experiences during the Holocaust, current events in Israel, and other Jewish topics. The TikTok forum enables me to engage viewers and respond to their questions with videos. My hope is that if they understand the damage that hate and indifference causes, they will learn to be considerate of others and speak up if they see hate.

    The Difference I hope to Make:

    I seek to educate people about the holocaust, encourage empathy and spur action so that if they see injustice they don't ignore it but rather take action to correct it. This could be related to genocides in other countries, or even bullies in school. Everyone is responsible to help and every action matters.

    Impact of Project:

    I have received hundreds of comments from people around the world thanking me for educating them on the Holocaust and for answering their questions. Not only do they gain more contextual knowledge, but they empathize and understand the need to remember what happened and learn from it.  They bless my grandmother and me and are truly moved by her story and pledge to share it with others. Though we have received numerous hate-filled comments, the overwhelming support from others negates them.

    To date I have over 40 videos, a combined 16 Million views, and over 260,000 followers. My videos range from 10k views after a few days, to over 7.5 million views. The average amount of views is approximately 100k to 150k. Every new video posted is guaranteed at least 10k views.

    The forum is very interactive. I accept comments from viewers and try to answer their questions. Sometimes I start live streams and answer the questions live and other times I reply with additional videos. A teacher in Australia contacted me and I created a personalized video to use in their classrooms for Holocaust education.

    Organizations I work with:

    -The Israeli Embassy in Washington (Israel Government)

    -The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs (a different section of Israel's Government)

    -World Jewish Restitution Organization

    -Hashtag Our Stories

    was contacted by the Israeli Embassy, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the World Jewish Restitution Organization to run joint campaigns. This January I will begin my work with their social media teams to create mirror campaigns and expand to Instagram, twitter and Facebook. With WJRO I am creating content for "mypropertystory" and for the Ministry I am creating content for "My story". I have a meeting with the Israeli embassy at the end of January to create a program for them for Holocaust Remembrance Day. I would like to also coordinate with other survivors to give them a platform to share their stories.  I was also contacted by the Hebrew University to help with their TikTok campaign and will be interviewed by Channel 12 (Erutz 12) regarding my work that will air January 27.

    Links to references about my work:

    https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/tiktok-the-moral-arc-of-the-social-media-universe

    - This article talks about the anti-semitism her and I face on TikTok every day. I talk to her all the time, and we share tips and stories of antisemitism. She mentions our project in the article and talks about why TikTok is such a hate-filled place. 

    -This is published by Julie Gray on the Times of Israel

    https://www.linktr.ee/tovatok

    https://www.tiktok.com/@tovafriedman

    https://www.instagram.com/tovasurvivortok

    KPI’s 

    My views: >16M,  My Followers: >250k

    In Collaboration with:

    • HashtagOurStories: >3M followers 
    • Israeli Embassy: >7k. Israel relations with the United States
    • WJRO - Organization that works with governments around the world.
    • Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs >150k. Israeli Government 
    • Erutz 12 Israel TBD viewership 
    •  

     Additional Information:

    Sir Ben Kingsley visited my house to talk and show his support, as documented in one of my TikTok videos. In January 2022, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of WJRO is coming to my house to interview me about my project and why I am doing it. I was invited to meet with employees of the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC. Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs is starting a course on Holocaust Education, and they want us to say a few words in a promotional video. We will zoom into the class later in the year. I am being interviewed by Channel 12 Israel for my collaboration with the Hebrew University and my work on TikTok which is being cited in scholarly journals and used as a template with memorials in Germany including the Auschwitz Museum and Dachau Museum. 

     

  • Sources and Credits:

    Credits:

    Biography and “TovaTok Holocaust Education” by Aron Goodman.

    SSBJCC Holocaust Memorial and Education Center gratefully acknowledges donation of all photographs by Aron Goodman and his mother, Taya Friedman to the SSBJCC Holocaust Memorial and Education Center 2023 as well as his extensive excel spreadsheet of presentation engagements. 

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