In July, ADL brought together 23 Catholic educators from 20 different schools across the Philadelphia region and Maryland to participate in Bearing WitnessTM, a four-day program exploring historical and contemporary relations between the Catholic and Jewish communities. Bearing WitnessTM is a unique program in partnership between ADL, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), the National Catholic Educators Association, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and Georgetown University’s Center for Jewish Civilization.
Teachers learned from seasoned educators on a variety of topics connected to anti-Semitism and Jewish-Catholic relations. ADL’s Deputy Director, Ken Jacobson, spoke about the history of anti-Semitism and the significance of Israel to the Jewish community today. ADL’s Director of Interreligious Engagement, Rabbi David Sandmel, presented an introduction to Judaism and team-taught a passage from the Gospels alongside Father Dennis McManus, Professor at Georgetown and a consultant for Jewish Affairs to the USCCB.
One of the most inspiring moments of the week was a visit from Anneliese Nussbaum, a Holocaust survivor. Anneliese shared her story and brought personal items that brought with her as she was moved to numerous concentration and death camps.
Over the course of the four days, educators participated in a mock-Shabbat dinner at Congregation Beth-Or in Ambler, PA, and they also traveled to Washington D.C. to visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
For the participants, Bearing Witness was an intense, inspiring and exhausting week of professional and personal growth. Many of these educators were learning about Catholic-Jewish relations and the Holocaust for the first time. One participant remarked, “This has been inspirational, motivational, and I am grateful to be part of this. So much to bring to my students!” Another educator shared, “I cannot speak highly enough about this program. It has challenged and inspired me on every level – as a teacher, a Catholic, a parent, and a human being.”
Bearing WitnessTM educators return to their classrooms prepared to share with their students the wealth of knowledge they acquired in their four-days of professional development. The hope of this highly successful program is that it will inspire future generations and whole communities to stand up and speak out against bigotry and discrimination in any form, whenever it arises.