Temple garden in Summerlin honors Warsaw Ghetto families

The nation's largest collection of stones that once paved the streets of Poland's Warsaw Ghetto are now part of the Warsaw Ghetto Remembrance Garden at Temple Beth Sholom, located within the Summerlin master-planned community.

In October 1940, more than 350,000 Jews were forcibly exiled by the Germans to the ghetto, a small area enclosed by 10-foot walls topped with barbed wire and broken glass. Few survived due to the scarce rations of food and water and the high number of deportations to concentration camps, according to Robert Mirisch, executive director at the temple.

"I always wished these stones could talk," Mirisch said. "But what a horrific story they would tell."

To Mirisch, it is a personal story as his family is of Polish descent. In 1891, his grandfather emigrated to the United States at the age of 17 to avoid the anti-Semitic Polish army, but others in his family were not so fortunate. One of the memorial stones is dedicated to the Mirisch family.

"The remembrance garden has personal meaning to me," he said. "It is a place of meditation that demonstrates the dignity of the human spirit and our innate resistance against evil."

The garden was dedicated last May. It is a circular structure, representing the circle of life, without a ceiling so visitors can see the open sky. In addition to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C., several local companies contributed to the garden's construction.

On display through December at the temple is a collection of portraits painted by Israeli schoolchildren ages 6 to 12. The art collection, titled "Peace through Humor," features the work of Jewish, Arab, Druze, Bedouin, Ethiopian and Russian children. One of the drawings, titled "Terrorist," features a human image surrounded by hues of red.

"It is easy to feel the human bond that unites cultures across the globe upon visiting the ... garden or looking at the portraits painted by the Israeli children," said Tom Warden, an executive with The Howard Hughes Corp., developer of Summerlin. "The core of the human spirit is the same throughout the world, we all desire peace and freedom. Summerlin is fortunate to have this moving and meaningful display here in our community."

Summerlin is home to eight golf courses, 107 parks, 107 miles of trails, 16 schools, houses of worship, shopping centers, medical facilities, cultural facilities, business parks and nearly 120 model homes.

Homes are available in a variety of styles, and priced from the low $200,000s to more than $700,000.

Custom-home sites are priced from the high $500,000s to more than $1 million, and predesigned custom homes start from $2.1 million.

Apartments offer monthly rents starting from the low $800s.

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