For TOLI Teacher Leaders (Graduates of TOLI’s Regional US Seminars) US Leadership Institute
Every few years, TOLI Leaders (teachers who have attended TOLI seminars and now lead Holocaust education in their own cities) gather for TOLI’s Leadership Institute Conference. This program fosters the collaboration, communication, and community that make TOLI seminars and resources so dynamic.
This years conference, “Celebrating the Past and Planning for the Future,” was designed to honor the work of Dr. Sondra Perl, who founded TOLI’s professional development model 18 years ago and who retired at the conclusion of this seminar.
This year, we convened in Atlanta, Georgia (with a day-trip to Montgomery, Alabama) with more than 50 TOLI Leaders from across the country. We were hosted by the William Breman Jewish Heritage & Holocaust Museum, The Temple (the historic synagogue bombed in 1958 for its rabbi’s support of civil rights), and a variety of sites in Montgomery, Alabama that explore the history of slavery and Black liberation in the USA.
The program provided opportunities for participants and faculty to discuss current trends and challenges in teaching the Holocaust and human rights, as well as explore new models to expand TOLI’s reach.
We traveled by bus to visit Bryan Stevenson’s Equal Justice Initiative sites: The Legacy Museum, the Monument to Peace and Justice, and the newly opened Freedom Monument Sculpture Park.
The educators invited to attend the Leadership Seminar are our core facilitators, many of which lead in-person, four- and five-day seminars for teachers in California, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Virginia, Wisconsin, and other states.
While TOLI Leadership Conferences have traditionally been held in New York City, TOLI Executive Director Deborah Lauter, who served as Community Relations Director for the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta (1992-1999) and as Southeast Region Director for the Anti-Defamation League (1999-2006), made the decision to host it in Atlanta this year. “I wanted our educators to gather in the heart of the Civil Rights Movement and examine the history of prejudice and discrimination in this country. Too many teachers around the country are now on the frontlines of a push-back on historical truths, and TOLI provides support for how to engage students to understand their role in ensuring civil society.”
The educators toured The Breman’s Holocaust exhibitions, “The Absence of Humanity,” and “History with Chutzpah: Remarkable Stories of the Southern Jewish Experience,” and heard a fascinating presentation on the history of antisemitism by Marist high school teacher, Brendan Murphy. They spent a day at The Temple where they met with Rabbi Peter Berg, who spoke with them about the synagogue’s history, including how The Temple was bombed in 1958 by extremists who objected to then-Rabbi Jacob Rothschild’s support for integration and civil rights.
As with all TOLI seminars, the participants – most of whom are not Jewish – attended a Shabbat service and dinner, and learned about Jewish religion, customs, and history before and after the Holocaust.