February 14th, 2024, 7:00 pm - 8:15 pm
The recording of this class is at https://youtu.be/r7usIAZQ748.
The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) is an international governmental organization that brings together governments and experts to advance and promote Holocaust education, research, and remembrance. The IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, although controversial in the US, has been officially adopted or endorsed by many countries and US States and localities. Lesley Weiss, a member of the US delegation to IHRA, will discuss the history and role of IHRA in combating anti-Semitism and Holocaust distortion and how IHRA works with 35 different member countries to further this mission.
Lesley J. Weiss is the Deputy Director of the National Coalition Supporting Eurasian Jewry (NCSEJ – formerly National Conference on Soviet Jewry). She travels frequently to Eurasia and Eastern Europe, where she coordinates democracy initiatives, community education, and outreach efforts, and promotes partnerships between American Jewish communities and communities in the region. She monitors compliance by the governments of the region in the areas of free emigration and religious and cultural rights.
Ms. Weiss has extensive experience in program development and fundraising, community relations, legislative outreach, hate crimes training, combating anti-Semitism, and Holocaust education. She works closely with the governments and the Jewish communities in the region on the restitution and preservation of Jewish communal property.
She currently serves as a member of the U.S. Delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)
In January 2013, President Obama appointed Ms. Weiss the Chair of the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, having served as a Member of the Commission since 2011. She served as Chair until October 2017. She returned to the Commission in July 2022 when President Biden appointed her as a member at the recommendation of Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Ms. Weiss is a graduate of the Baltimore Institute for Jewish Communal Service. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Jewish Studies from American University, a master’s degree in social work from the University of Maryland School Of Social Work, and a master’s degree in modern Jewish history from the Baltimore Hebrew University.
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