Six Local Educators Selected For Advanced Holocaust Education Program

The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous (JFR) has selected 23 middle and high school teachers and Holocaust center staff from six states to participate in its 2022 Advanced Seminar, an intensive two-day academic program that explores a number of topics addressing the history of the Holocaust.

The seminar, made possible through a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, took place virtually Jan. 15 and 16.

Participants hail from Alabama, Florida, New Jersey, Georgia, South Carolina and Texas. They include six from Palm Beach County, including Marie-Amalie Farris and Tawny Anderson of Wellington High School. Also included are Maureen Carter of Boca Raton High School, Charles Hagy Jr. of the Benjamin School, Julie Gates of Loggers’ Run Middle School and Bradd Weinberg of Carver Middle School.

The Advanced Seminar is an intensive graduate-level program in which a select group of educators who are already well versed in Holocaust history are given the opportunity to study more focused topics relating to the Holocaust from world-renowned lecturers.

The program is open to JFR Alfred Lerner Fellows, middle and high school educators who have already attended the JFR Summer Institute for Teachers, which is typically held at Columbia University. Due to the pandemic, recent seminars have been held virtually. Both programs are meant for educators who teach the Holocaust either in classrooms or through Holocaust centers, and have taught at least five years and are at least five years from retirement.

“Each of these educators have already distinguished themselves through their tremendous commitment to teaching the Holocaust in their schools and toward furthering their own education in the environment of antisemitism which led to the Holocaust,” JFR Executive Vice President Stanlee Stahl said. “By attending this intensive, graduate level program, they will gain an even greater understanding of the history of the Holocaust, which will increase their effectiveness in the classroom and enable them to mentor other colleagues who teach the subject.”

The JFR continues its work of providing monthly financial assistance to more than 150 aged and needy Righteous Gentiles, living in 14 countries. Since its founding, the JFR has provided more than $42 million to aged and needy rescuers — helping to repay a debt of gratitude on behalf of the Jewish people to these noble men and women.

The JFR’s Holocaust teacher education program has become a standard for teaching the history of the Holocaust. For more information, visit www.jfr.org.