Temple Beth Israel (892 Cherry Street) will host this year’s Macon-Bibb Holocaust Memorial Observance on Sunday, April 12, at 7:00 p.m. Following the Observance, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission will host a reception in honor of the guest speaker, Georgia Commission on the Holocaust Executive Director Sally N. Levine. This event is open to the public.
The Observance will include readings, a memorial candle lighting service in memory of the six million Jews who perished at the hands of the Nazis, and Ms. Levine as the guest speaker. There will also be a Mayoral Proclamation read declaring the week of April 12-19, 2015, as Days of Remembrance in memory of the victims of the Holocaust and in honor of the survivors, rescuers, and liberators.
“We want people to come together and reflect on our moral responsibilities, whether that be as individuals or groups, to each other and to our society,” says Macon-Bibb Commissioner Rabbi Larry Schlesinger. “This was a horror that affected our entire world, and we must remain vigilant against hatred, persecution, and tyranny, and dedicated to the principles of individual freedom in our country.”
The Macon-Bibb Holocaust Memorial Observance is an annual event sponsored by Temple Beth Israel, Congregation Sha’arey Israel, the Macon Chapter of Hadassah, and the Macon-Middle Georgia Federation of Jewish Charities. Temple Beth Israel and Congregation Sha’aray Israel congregations rotate the privilege of hosting the Observance each year as the host congregation.
The Observance is a supported event of Macon-Bibb County’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission. In December, the Commission announced a series of events to celebrate and remember the life and impact of the civil rights leaders. A full calendar of events has been posted online, and it is updated to reflect new events that are added.
Events have included the annual March to Government Center, tours at the Tubman African American Museum, the Beloved Community Symposium, a performance by world-renowned violinist Robert McDuffie at Beulahland Baptist Church (more information below), and more. Members of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission are: Commissioner Elaine Lucas, Commissioner Larry Schlesinger, Sam Henderson, Reverend Dr. Henry Ficklin, Dominique Johnson, Reverend Evans Brown, June O’Neal, Dr. Any Ambrose, Mike Gardner, and Tony Lowden.
About Sally N. Levine
Sally N. Levine joins the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust from the Breman Museum in Atlanta where she served as the Specialist for Teacher and Curriculum Development. She also currently serves as a Regional Educator for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. In these roles, she has conducted workshops for educators locally and throughout the Southeast, focusing on Holocaust history and pedagogy. The new Core Curriculum Standards as well as Georgia Performance Standards inform her approach to teaching this challenging topic. Prior to her assignments as a museum educator, Levine was a classroom teacher and social studies department coordinator for over twenty years. She has taught both social studies and language arts.
Levine holds a B.A. in English from Queens College of the City University of New York, and a M.S. in Education from Russell Sage College. She completed her Museum Teacher Fellowship from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2003. Educational travel has included a study trip to Poland with Holocaust educators sponsored by the First Secretary of the Polish Embassy in Washington DC, a trip to London to attend the libel trial of Dr. Deborah Lipstadt, a visit to Ukraine organized by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum led by scholars including Father Patrick Desbois and Wendy Lower, and a weeklong seminar at the Museum of the History of the Polish Jews, located in Warsaw, Poland. Levine is poised to direct the Commission in fulfilling its educational mandate throughout the state of Georgia.
About the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust
The Georgia Commission on the Holocaust is a non-partisan state agency administratively attached to the Secretary of State. The Commission was established in 1986 by Executive Order to educate the citizens of and visitors to Georgia about the consequences of hate, prejudice, and discrimination by teaching the lessons of the Holocaust. In 1998, the Commission became a permanent state agency by act of the Georgia General Assembly (House Bill 1664). The Commission consists of 15 members appointed equally by the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Speaker of the House.