Several years ago, I volunteered to lead a group discussion of a fictional novel, "The Devil's Arithmetic" written by Jane Yolen. It was held in the media center at a local public middle school with 10 seventh-graders. The school picked the book for me and I got a copy from the Broadneck Public Library.

For a fiction, the book was an age-appropriate description of what happened in the concentration camps of World War II, even though the book's main character, Hannah, a modern-day American Jewish preteen whose relatives were among those persecuted, time-travels back into a Nazi concentration camp.

I was stunned to realize most of the students seated around me assumed that, because the book was a fiction, the Holocaust, the Nazi programs and death camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Belzec, Treblinka, Dachau and others described in the book were fictional, too. Before opening the book, they'd never heard of the Holocaust.

"We don't teach them about the Holocaust until they read 'Diary of Anne Frank' in eighth grade," said a school librarian standing nearby. "Why don't you tell them about the Holocaust? There's five minutes left in this period."

As the Spanish philosopher George Santayana once said: "Those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them." Those words echoed in my mind that afternoon.

Last week, Temple Beth Shalom in Arnold held a unique observance of Yom Hashoah with a free performance of the "Holocaust Cantata" by the Annapolis Chorale, under the direction of Ernest Green. The choral piece was originally written by Maestro Donald McCullough, based on archival records from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The cantata interwove songs created by people imprisoned in the Nazi camps. Most of the authors perished in the camps. The cantata's world premiere was at the Kennedy Center 10 years ago. The chorale also performed "Chichester Songs" by Leonard Bernstein and Z. Randall Stroop's "Songs of Hope."

As the audience filed into the sanctuary of Temple Beth Shalom - a new structure dedicated last fall - many viewed the massive doors of the Torah Ark for the first time. Long awaited, they were finally installed in late April.

The towering ark doors with a dark bronze patina are magnificent, the focal point of the temple's blue and white sanctuary.

"It has an Exodus theme, based on the first 20 chapters," said Rabbi Ari Goldstein. Moving his hands lovingly across the two massive sliding cabinet doors, he pointed to various "stories" from the Sh'mot or Book of Exodus, detailing the escape of Moses and the Jews from imprisonment in Egypt. A pair of shackled hands bear broken chains.

"The Jews crossed through the Sea of Reeds, near Mt. Sinai, where they received the ten commandments," he said. "The Jews didn't cross the Red Sea. The Sea of Reeds was a marshy lake on the border between the Sinai Peninsula and Egypt."

The doors were designed and sculpted by Broadneck Peninsula resident Charles "Chuck" Anthony. He worked on them in a studio he specifically set up for the project in his home overlooking the Severn River.

Mr. Anthony is better known as an architect, rather than a sculptor. Head of the Annapolis firm Charles E. Anthony Architects, his company designed the new temple building, and oversaw its construction. A snowstorm several years ago had damaged the previous structure beyond repair.

"This is the formative, fundamental story of Judaism," Mr. Anthony said.

"What makes these doors so significant is that most ark doors are beautiful, but not to this scale. Some tend to be elaborate, but not like this with a story to tell," the rabbi added. "You can see a sea of emotions in these people as they enter the Sea of Reeds. Like any piece of art, this is what is in the artist's heart. It's a heartfelt approach to our story."

The bonded bronze doors each weigh more than 350 pounds and glide on special rollers. Above the doors, on the sculpted lintel, is a partial phrase from Psalm 118: "Open for me the gates of righteousness, that I might enter and praise God."

"While Chuck and his business associates are architects, by doing this Chuck separates himself from the pack by proving himself as an artist and a sculptor, too," said Rabbi Goldstein, "Chuck said he'd 'take care of the ark doors' and we just assumed he'd find people to do it. I speak for the congregation in saying the doors exceeded our expectations."

He noted that most folks view the doors from their seats in the sanctuary, below the platform on which the doors are affixed. "The congregation looks up and becomes part of the group heading towards Mt. Sinai," the rabbi suggested. "I love them. I do."

Mr. Anthony worked on the project for nine months and "ruminated" for a year before that. "I had to chose between a Genesis or an Exodus theme," he sighed.

Assisting him on the project was Brian Foltz of Foxworx, whom Mr. Anthony reverently referred to as "a Renaissance man."

"Brian worked out all the engineering for the construction and operation of the doors and physically fabricated the doors in a cold-casting process. He sat down, we talked through it and he worked out the details," said Mr. Anthony. "Brian is a cabinet maker and carpenter, plus he also builds race cars and boats. He can build anything."

Mr. Anthony, a native of Centreville on the Eastern Shore, graduated from the University of Maryland School of Architecture. He is married to the writer, Iris Krasnow. The couple has four sons, all who attend Key School. Theo, 18, is heading to Oberlin College in the fall. Isaac is 16, and fraternal twins Jack and Zane are 14.

"I'm hoping to get other commissions," said Mr. Anthony. "I found I really enjoyed physically doing the work. Sculpting it was an immediate gratification, unlike architecture. If there's a smudge on the clay I don't like, I can try ten different ways to change it right on the spot. In architecture," he smiled, "there's not much trial and error in building buildings."

To view the doors, call the temple office for an appointment. The number is 410-757-0552.