Thursday, June 10, 2021
Join us for a lively evening celebrating community, history, and history-makers.
Schedule of Events
5:30 p.m. EDT Reception
6:00 p.m. EDT Program:
Celebrating the Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Center's first decade of collaboration and achievement at New England Historic Genealogical Society
Honoring Margot Stern Strom, Founder of Facing History and Ourselves, with the Tzedakah Lifetime Achievement Award
and featuring her in conversation with Adam Strom, Founder of Re-Imagining Migration
Presenting the Volunteer Leadership Award to Herbert Selesnick
Watch the Recorded Event
Margot's Thyme & Tonic - Strawberry Thyme
1 1/2 oz gin
4 strawberries halved
2 thyme sprigs
3 oz tonic water
Champagne Cocktail
1 sugar cube
Orange bitters (or regular)
1/2 oz elderflower liqueur
Sparkling white grape juice (preferably no-sugar added) chilled or champagne
Orange twist for garnish
The Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Center at New England Historic Genealogical Society
Ten years ago, two prestigious organizations, the American Jewish Historical Society–New England Archives and the New England Historic Genealogical Society, began a collaboration of shared resources, expertise, and commitment to Jewish families and communities. Their alliance was fully formalized in 2015 with the creation of the Jewish Heritage Center (JHC) at New England Historic Genealogical Society, which was then renamed in 2018 to honor Justin and Genevieve Wyner and their family. Today, the JHC is a premier hub for education, research, and scholarship about Jewish family and institutional history in New England and beyond. The center engages historians, genealogists, students, institutions, and the general public with its extensive archival collections, educational programs, and public events. We are pleased to be celebrating a decade of collaboration and achievement at our June 10, 2021, gala event.
Tzedakah Lifetime Achievement Award Honoree
The founder of the international organization Facing History and Ourselves, Margot Stern Strom has inspired millions of students and teachers around the world to investigate the root causes of prejudice and discrimination, and to understand the obligations of civic participation. Raised in Memphis, TN, during the Jim Crow era, Margot learned from her family to question the racial segregation and discrimination that she saw around her in the Deep South. As a young middle-school history teacher in Brookline, MA, she applied her understanding of moral development and identity formation in adolescents to develop a teaching style that recognized students as moral philosophers. In 1976, Margot developed a course, “Facing History and Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behavior,” which engaged students in understanding the events that led to the Holocaust. From that first course, she grew Facing History over the next four decades into a global nonprofit working with tens of thousands of teachers to engage students in making connections between past and present and in thinking deeply about issues of racism, antisemitism, and prejudice.
Margot Strom will be in conversation with her son, Adam Strom, about her career and their family history. Adam carries on the family’s commitment to education and social justice as the founder and Executive Director of Re-Imagining Migration, an organization whose mission is to advance the education and well-being of immigrant-origin youth, decrease bias and hatred against young people of diverse origins, and help rising generations develop the understanding to build and sustain welcoming and inclusive communities. At Re-Imagining Migration and in his previous content development role at Facing History and Ourselves, Adam has developed educational resources that have been used to teach millions of students around the world, including numerous resource books, study guides, and films on identity and prejudice, Holocaust and Genocide, and Civil and Human Rights.
We will honor Herbert “Herb” Selesnick for his outstanding volunteer leadership. During a career spanning more than five decades, Herb founded an organizational consultancy, with his wife, Hinda Sterling, that helped more than 200 public, private, and non-profit enterprises make strategic and self-directed change. He has applied this professional expertise in a pro-bono capacity while serving on nonprofit boards: as a board member of the North Shore Jewish Historical Society, he facilitated the Society's 2016 merger with the Jewish Heritage Center (JHC) at New England Historic Genealogical Society. An active member of the JHC’s Advisory Council since then, Herb has recently led the Council in an invaluable strategic planning process that resulted in a five-year plan. Herb holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Master of Science degree from MIT’s Sloan School, and a Ph.D. from the MIT Center for International Studies. His and Hinda’s family collection, the Sterling and Selesnick Family Papers, is preserved in the JHC archives.
Our Reception Host
Jewish Cocktails was started by Dammara Kovnats Hall, a Jewish Studies Teacher in Manhattan. Originally from Winnipeg, Canada, she worked as a mixologist while attending college in New York City. When living in Israel pursuing a Masters degree in Jewish education, she had the idea to synthesize her love of Judaism and passion for mixology, leading to the creation of Jewish Cocktails. She has now launched an events based business specializing in Kosher and Jewish-themed cocktails and classes. Dammara brought attention to kosher cocktails when she was interviewed and Jewish Cocktails was highlighted in the January 2021 edition of American Whiskey magazine. Jewish Cocktails is one way that Dammara blends her teaching skills, which were recently celebrated when she received the 2021 Jewish Education Project’s ‘Robert Sherman Young Pioneer’s Award’ with her enthusiasm for sharing Jewish wisdom. When she’s not crafting delicious new cocktails, she enjoys riding her motorcycle and hosting Shabbat gatherings. Join the conversation in her vibrant facebook group Jewish Cocktails or reach her at info@jewishcocktails.com
For more information, please contact Courtney Reardon at Courtney.Reardon@nehgs.org or 617-226-1215.