The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center

Kristallnacht Commemoration Solidarity Walk of Remembrance Planned Across Mario M. Cuomo Bridge

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On Sunday, November 7th 2021 starting at 9 a.m., the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center of Westchester will join with the Holocaust Museum & Center for Tolerance and Education of Rockland to commemorate the 83rd Anniversary of Kristallnacht with a solidarity walk across the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge to remember and honor the victims, survivors and rescuers of the Kristallnacht pogroms and the Holocaust. For more information, please contact the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center  914.696.0738 mjasper@hhrecny.org www.hhrecny.org or the Holocaust Museum & Center for Tolerance and Education at 845.574.4099 www.holocauststudies.org. Please call soon for meeting place and for availability: registration to this walk is capped at 75.

Kristallnacht, also called the “Night of the Broken Glass” was a horrific, violent assault launched by the German Nazi government against the Jews on November 9, 1938. Over the course of the two day pogrom, over 30,000 Jews were arrested, 91 Jews were brutally murdered and hundreds more were injured. Kristallnacht foreshadowed the terror and destruction of the Holocaust.

 

 

Rescued Holocaust Sefer Torah Scroll Finds New Home at Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center

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The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center (HHREC), a nonprofit organization that offers education programs in partnership with local schools to enhance the teaching and learning of the lessons of the Holocaust, has received a Rescued Holocaust Sefer Torah from the Yorktown Jewish Center.

The HHREC will safeguard it at their library and education center in White Plains, New York. The Yorktown Jewish Center recently closed after 68 years in operation serving their congregation in the greater Yorktown Heights, New York area. 

L to R: Marvin Medow,  co-president, Yorktown Jewish Center; HHREC Executive Director Millie Jasper; and Michael Mirsky, co-president, Yorktown Jewish Center. 

”We are incredibly honored and humbled by the generosity of our dear friends at the Yorktown Jewish Center to become caretakers for this Torah.” said Millie Jasper, Executive Director, HHREC. “And while we are saddened to learn of the closing of the synagogue, we will work very hard to help them achieve their mission in sharing this unique artifact with teachers, students, and the public at large, as a living document to help us educate and inform.”

 “It’s both gratifying and heartening to know that this precious item, our Torah, will continue to be used as intended, to educate and elevate the spirituality of all who partake of it.“ said Marvin Medow, one of the Co-Presidents of the Yorktown Jewish Center. “Our Torah has found a new home and the gift of its teachings will continue.”

About The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center 

The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center is a not-for-profit organization based in White Plains New York that serves Westchester, Fairfield, and neighboring counties. Their Mission is to enhance the teaching and learning of the lessons of the Holocaust and the right of all people to be treated with dignity and respect. We encourage students to speak up and act against all forms of bigotry and prejudice. Their work with students and teachers helps schools fulfill the New York State mandate that the Holocaust and other human rights abuses be included in their curriculum. Since 1994, they have brought the lessons of the Holocaust, genocide, and human rights crimes to more than 1,500 teachers, and through them to thousands of middle and high school students. Through their volunteer Educators Program Committee, the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center gives teachers the unique opportunity to develop programs for themselves and others. These programs not only enrich teachers’ knowledge about the Holocaust and related issues, but they also provide the lens through which to view all other human rights violations. For more information call 914.696.0738 email info@hhrecny.org  

 

 

HHREC Announces 2022 Summer Educators Tour Plans and Registration Opening

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The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center (HHREC) has announced their 2022 Study Tour of Germany and Poland. This HHREC educational mission offers teachers  a unique opportunity to visit the sites of the Holocaust in Germany and Poland and speak with experts in the field. The guided tour and trip will run from July 2nd to 17th and will be offered to educators from the Lower Hudson Valley of New York and from other parts of the U.S.

” We are very excited to resume offering our Educators Study Tour in 2022” said Steven Goldberg, Co-Director of Education at HHREC. “And while we have enjoyed offering this unique biennial program to teachers here in Lower Hudson since 2012, is it gratifying to hear from many others around the country who are planning to join us.  The is designed to expand teacher comprehension of this monumental event in human history and inspire and motivate them as they prepare to teach the lessons of the Holocaust and promote protection of Human Rights to their students.  He added “It is very important to us and our mission to pass on the lessons we have learned for the future.” 

Trip highlights for the 2022 HHREC Summer Tour include:

  • Sightseeing Coach Tour of Berlin, including Berlin Wall Memorial, Brandenburg Gate, Bebelplatz
  • Holocaust Memorials in Berlin (Murdered Jews of Europe, Memorial in the Bavarian Quarter, Memorial Track 17 – Berlin Grunewald, Homosexuals, Sinti and Roma, “T4” Memorial, Stolpersteine)
  • Educational programs at the House of the Wannsee Conference, Murdered Jews of Europe Memorial Museum, Jewish Museum (Berlin), Stasi Museum Marienfelder Refugee Center, Documentation Center Nazi Party Parade Grounds in Nürnberg, Nürnberg Courthouse, Polin (Museum of the History of Polish Jews)
  • Tour and educational program at Sachsenhausen and Auschwitz-Birkenau
  • Tour of Kasimierz historic Jewish section of Krakow
  • Panel discussion on Jewish life and antisemitism in Germany today and visit to a synagogue in Berlin
  • Panel discussion on Migrant Settlement in Germany: Education, Housing, Employment, Legal Issues
  • Program on tolerance education and civil society in Germany: 7xjung – training ground for solidarity and respect

The Summer Tour Trip cost includes intercontinental roundtrip flights New York (JFK) – Berlin (BER), public transportation including local coach or taxi, local and long-distance trains, Intra-European trains and flights, and accommodations include breakfast in 3- and 4-star hotels (14 nights) in Berlin, Nürnberg, Warsaw, Krakow, lunches and dinners, an English- speaking guide, lectures, discussions, and local guided tours in English or with English translation, and museum entrance fees. Lower Hudson Valley New York educators will receive a $2100 honorarium, and all participants will receive 90 CTLE hours at the conclusion of the program.

For more information, and to register, visit hhrecny.org/educators-study-tours or contact Steven Goldberg at sgoldberg@hhrecny.org

About The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center

The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center is a not-for-profit organization based in White Plains New York that serves Westchester, Fairfield and neighboring counties. Their Mission is to enhance the teaching and learning of the lessons of the Holocaust and the right of all people to be treated with dignity and respect. We encourage students to speak up and act against all forms of bigotry and prejudice. Their work with students and teachers helps schools fulfill the New York State mandate that the Holocaust and other human rights abuses be included in their curriculum. Since 1994, they have brought the lessons of the Holocaust, genocide and human rights crimes to more than 1500 teachers, and through them to thousands of middle and high school students. Through their volunteer Educators Program Committee, the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center gives teachers the unique opportunity to develop programs for themselves and others. These programs not only enrich teachers’ knowledge about the Holocaust and related issues, but they   also provide the lens through which to view all other human rights violations. For more information call 914.696.0738 email info@hhrecny.org 

Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center Annual Benefit Honoring Andrew Greenspan

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The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center will honor Andrew Greenspan, Principal, GHP Office Realty at their annual benefit on October 28.  Scott Shay, co-founder and chairman of Signature Bank, will be the keynote speaker.

Andrew Greenspan is a native New Yorker who has resided in Westchester for nearly his entire life.  He is a graduate of Scarsdale High School, has a Bachelor of Arts from Hamilton College, and a Master of Science from the Sloan School of Business at MIT.  In 1999, he founded GHP Office Realty with James J. Houlihan.  As Principal of GHP, he manages the daily operations of the White Plains based company, which began by acquiring and operating individual multi-tenanted suburban New York office buildings.  The partners presently own and manage buildings in Westchester, Rockland, Fairfield, and Bergen Counties.

Mr. Greenspan is a longtime Board Member of the Westchester Business and Professional Division of the UJA Federation and is the past recipient of the March of Dimes Real Estate Award.  He is a member of the President’s Circle at the Sloan School/MIT and is a member of the Founder’s Club at Hamilton College.

Mr. Greenspan and his wife, Karen, currently reside in Chappaqua and Kiawah Island, South Carolina.

Scott Shay is the son of a Holocaust survivor.  Mr. Shay’s father, George, lived in a small town in Lithuania, when the Nazis killed members of his family.  Because of this father’s history and his concern about anti-Semitism, Mr. Shay wrote Getting Our Groove Back: How to Energize American Jewry and In Good Faith: Questioning Religion and Atheism. His next book, Conspiracy U: A Case Study, comes out in October. 

The annual benefit will take place at 6:30 p.m. at the Westchester Country Club, 99 Biltmore Avenue, Rye, New York, 10580.

For more information, please contact Millie Jasper, Executive Director, mjasper@hhrecny.org or 914.696.0738

Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center (neoncrm.com)

24th Annual Benefit – Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center (hhrecny.org)

To all that’s Life Affirming

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If I had to name my most heart wrenching moments in 18 years of publishing locally, it has been unquestionably reporting or covering the loss of a young life. But they have ironically felt the most meaningful, if only in some tiny, immeasurable way, when sharing the memories of a precious son or daughter provided even the smallest degree of comfort to a grieving parent–and to a community of family, friends, and neighbors in mourning too.

You’ll learn about the remarkable life of a young lady, Linda Zhang, her unyielding passion to save our planet and the impact she had on all those who knew her.

I met Linda’s warm and wonderful parents at an event at the Chappaqua Library earlier this summer when a first Linda Zhang writing award was presented. Writing was another passion of Linda’s. Pamela Brown’s article about Linda and the foundation formed in her honor: www.lindazhangfoundation.org

As we went to press, news came of another devastating loss to the community, that of Danielle Taylor Leventhal, an immensely talented artist described by her family and friends as “a beautiful ray of sunshine and a strong-willed woman.” Danielle’s mom, Jennifer, had sent me her family’s poignant words in a story I then posted about this brilliant, joy-filled young lady. https://www.theinsidepress.com/in-remembrance-of-danielle-taylor-leventhal/

A packed service at Temple Beth El led by Rabbi Jaffe–the remembrances by her family and friends – conveyed the enormity of the love for Danielle and her legacy.

If this letter column feels ‘heavy’ for back- to-school editions, as spotlighted by various stories, I hope you might see it as life affirming instead, because learning more about these two wonderful souls really has been.

Please enjoy all the articles assembled with gratitude and with a hopeful but watchful eye over ‘everything Covid’.  Speaking of gratitude, please don’t miss our stories about the Byram Hills Education Foundation ‘funding our student’s futures’, the New Castle United for Youth ‘EXPERIENCE’, as told by two interns, and one of Byram Hill’s student Anika Bobra who has created a remarkable podcast devoted to promoting gratitude widely.

Personal and family enrichment via fabulous local options are always something to be grateful for.  So, do help celebrate ‘comeback’ events –  Community Day in New Castle, the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival, Feed Me Fresh: An Edible Evening. and the Armonk Outdoor Art Show!

Do visit the Chappaqua Library’s new Teen and Children’s Rooms! Do feel inspired by Chappaqua’s Edward Lewis, the new director of Caramoor, and partake in any of its ever exciting programming. And also by Hammond’s executive director Elizabeth Hammer who kindly provided me with a fascinating private tour of this small gem of a Museum and its lush Japanese sculpture gardens.

Finally, I’m well into a second decade supporting the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center. Please consider attending/supporting its upcoming annual fundraiser honoring Andrew Greenspan.  https://hhrecny.org/inspire_events/

Here’s also my ‘welcome back’ to you, and my wish to you for love and happiness and to all that’s life affirming.