School Children Honor Daniel Pearl

School Children of Different Faiths Honor Slain Journalist Daniel Pearl
Weizmann, New Horizon and St. Mark's students perform for Daniel Pearl World Music Day on Wednesday

by DANIELLE GILLESPIE, Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Three religious private schools of different faiths performed a concert on Wednesday as part of Daniel Pearl World Music Days.

Weizmann, New Horizon and St. Mark’s schools have put on the concert to promote peace and cultural understanding for the past four years.

The schools, representing Islamic, Jewish and Christian religions, decided to partner for the concert so children could learn they have a lot in common, said Weizmann Head of School Lisa Feldman.

“Maybe, there will be less prejudice 30 years from now because we are doing this … prejudice is based on ignorance of another community,” Feldman said.

In addition to the concert, New Horizon’s and Weizmann’s students are pen pals, Feldman said, and all three schools participate in group activities throughout the school year.

On Wednesday, Weizmann Day School students wiggled their fingers to symbolize the rain and pointed toward the stars as they sang “on and on the rain will fall like tears from a star.” The students in kindergarten through sixth grade were singing “Fragile” by Sting.

New Horizon School and St. Mark’s School also performed songs such as “Why We Sing” by Greg Gilpin and “Dona Nobis Pacem,” a traditional Latin canon.

Daniel Pearl World Music Days was established in 2002 to promote peace. That year, terrorists in Pakistan kidnapped and murdered Pearl, a Wall Street Journal reporter. Pearl’s family and friends formed the Daniel Pearl Foundation in his honor.

Terrorists targeted Pearl because he was a media figure and an American Jew, according to the Daniel Pearl Foundation’s Web site. The foundation uses Pearl’s passions for music and writing to discourage hatred and discrimination.

“We hope this event will inspire all of us,” Feldman said. “Children can teach us how little our differences mean.”

Daniel Pearl World Music Days happen every year during the first few weeks of October near Pearl’s birthday – Oct. 10. Since 2002, thousands of performances have occurred in more than 60 countries, according to the foundation’s Web site.

“He was an amazing reporter,” Weizmann sixth-grader Declan Hindman said. “He helped make the world a better place by bringing together different religions and ethnicities. It was a very sad day when he died.