The Northern New Jersey Holocaust Memorial & Education Center will present an evening with the Honorable Jason Greenblatt of Teaneck, a former assistant to the president and White House Special Envoy to the Middle East. Greenblatt will deliver the keynote address entitled, “Insights into Middle East Diplomacy and Rising Anti-Semitism Through the Eyes of a Son of Survivors.” The event will take place Sunday, January 12, 2020 at 7:30 PM at Congregation Keter Torah at 600 Roemer Avenue in Teaneck and will benefit the organization’s capital campaign towards creating its centerpiece sculpture. The memorial will rest prominently on the Teaneck Municipal Green with additional space in the Teaneck library.
“We are honored that Mr. Greenblatt is choosing to deliver his first public address since leaving the White House to our organization to promote our future Memorial. His perspective as the son of holocaust survivors and a top Middle East negotiator amid the backdrop of the worldwide rise in anti-Semitism is really unique. He believes as we do that the need for a Holocaust Memorial & Education Center is more urgent today than ever,” said Holocaust Memorial Committee co-chair Steve Fox, whose late father escaped from the Warsaw Ghetto and became a partisan.
The evening will recognize New Jersey State Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg for her efforts towards securing state funding for the Holocaust memorial project as well as a memorial to enslaved Africans. Together, they will comprise the Garden to Nurture Human Understanding to be constructed on the Teaneck Municipal Green.
Local survivor Norbert Strauss will also be recognized for educating others through both his written works and lectures. Strauss and his family lived through Kristallnacht and escaped Germany in 1941, eventually making their way to Bergen County.
The Northern New Jersey Holocaust Memorial & Education Committee seeks to create a Holocaust Memorial & Education Center to serve the entire region. Its goals are to educate young and old to the lessons of the Holocaust, create awareness to the horrors of racism and hate so it will not be repeated, and to lovingly memorialize those who were killed.
The first phase of the project will be a 10’ center piece which will be designed by the winner of a competition and this event will kick off the drive to raise approximately $300,000 to complete this part of the project.
Another aspect of the project is to provide a place in which members of the community can inscribe the names of loved ones murdered during the Shoah. A space for two thousand names will line the inner circumference of the memorial with each name linking to a web site featuring photos and information about the victims,
All are welcome to attend the event, which is free to the community. There is a suggested donation of $36 per attendee. A pre-event VIP reception will take place for larger donors.
For more information or to register, visit www.nnjholocaustmemorial.org or call (201) 583-5870.
