Congressman Charlie Crist, D-St. Petersburg, recently met with local Hadassah members and pledged his support of the Never Again Education Act, which deals with Holocaust education in the public school system.
Hadassah is one of the organizations advocating for the bill.
Crist signed onto the bill July 1, according to his office.
Those meeting with Crist included Linda Goldfarb, St. Petersburg chapter of Hadassah; Ellen Siegman, PRAZE (Programming, Advocacy, Zionism and Education) vice president of the Hadassah Florida Central Region; Rabbi Danielle Upbin of Congregation Beth Shalom in Clearwater, and Harriet Stein, president of the St. Petersburg chapter of Hadassah.
The Never Again Education Act proposes establishing a fund through the U.S. Department of Education – with public money plus private donations – to provide grants to teachers for the training and resources to teach Holocaust history in public schools. The bipartisan bill has been introduced in both the House and Senate.
“This bill is urgent,” said Hadassah CEO Janice Weinman when the Senate launched its version of the bill in July. “Students – and sometimes teachers and administrators, too – are painfully unaware of the Holocaust. We must address this because Holocaust education programs are important at reducing extremism, hate, and bigotry against all people.”
A 2018 survey by the Claims Conference: The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany found that 31 percent of Americans and 41 percent of millennials believe that 2 million or fewer Jews were killed during the Holocaust. In reality, approximately 6 million Jews were slaughtered. The Claims Conference survey did find that 93 percent of respondents think that Holocaust education should be taught in schools.
Other issues discussed during the meeting with Crist included women’s health, Hadassah Hospital and other Hadassah projects and support for Israel, according to Hadassah member Ruth Lebowitz.
Information from the JTA news service was used in compiling this report.