Holocaust, Genocide, and Interfaith Center to Host Four Fall Events
The Center will continue to advance its mission to eradicate human suffering, prejudice, and racism through education.
The Holocaust, Genocide and Interfaith (HGI) Education Center will sponsor four events during the fall semester.
Tuesday, October 16, 4 p.m., Kelly Commons 5B
Rabbi Ron Kronish, Ed.D. and Sheikh Ghassan Manasra will discuss their efforts and plans in reconciliation and peace-building in Israel and Palestine, and they will present their visions for a more peaceful future.
Rabbi Ron Kronish is an independent lecturer, scholar, author and interreligious consultant and activist. He is also a library fellow at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. Previously, he was the founding director of the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel, and through his 25 years of service to that organization, he became one of the leaders in the field of interfaith dialogue as a form of peace building in Israel and internationally.
Sheik Ghassan Manasra is an Arab Israeli who is a globally recognized expert in interreligious dialogue and facilitation. He is the international director of The Abrahamic Reunion, a Fulbright Scholar and an Arabic and Hebrew scholar who offers international presentations on Middle Eastern topics and issues. He was the recipient of the 2014 Outstanding Leader in Interreligious Dialogue Award from Temple University, and is a trusted advisor to heads of state in the Middle East, Europe and North America.
Tuesday, November 6, 7 p.m., O’Malley Library, room 100
The HGI Center will celebrate the release of “Wheat Songs,” a memoir by Perry Rizopoulos ’13, about his grandfather’s tragic experience living through Nazi occupation during World War II and the following Greek Civil War.
Rizopoulos currently teaches philosophy courses at Manhattan College, the College of Mount St. Vincent and St. John’s University. He is pursuing his doctorate in interdisciplinary studies at Columbia University’s Teachers College.
Thursday, November 8, 5:30 p.m., Kelly Commons 5C
Kevin P. Spicer, C.S.C., Ph.D., the distinguished professor of history at Stonehill College, will deliver the annual Schweitzer Lecture, titled “Christian and Racial Antisemitism: The Intersection Under National Socialism.” There will be a commemoration of Kristallnacht before the lecture.
Spicer is chair of the Council of Centers on Jewish-Christian Relations and the co-editor of the Council's academic journal, Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations. He is also a member of the Holocaust Educational Foundation's Academic Advisory Council and a Catholic Priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross.
Thursday, November 29, 7 p.m., Kelly Commons 4A
A panel led by Mehnaz Afridi, Ph.D., director of the HGI Center, Oksana Kulynych, member of the U.S. Holodomor Education Committee and Lesia Kaszczak, Ed.D., who teaches science at Yonkers Middle High School., will examine “The Unknown Genocide: Holodomor in Ukraine, 1932-33.”
The discussion will revolve around the actions of the Communist regime under Joseph Stalin, which deliberately starved millions of Ukrainians to death during 1932-33, after Ukrainian peasants refused to join collective farms in the Soviet Union.