SOUTH JERSEY HOLOCAUST COALITION LAUNCHES BRIDGES & PATHWAYS BOOK GROUP ON JANUARY 27 WITH ZOOM DISCUSSION OF TA-NEHISI COATES’ BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME

How do we come to grips with people doing terrible things to each other? What are the ways that random and organized violence to other persons is expressed in overt and hidden ways? What happens when people try to compare the suffering of one group to another?

These issues and others will be discussed as South Jersey Holocaust Coalition launches a new monthly book discussion series—Bridges and Pathways Book Group. The first discussion, free and open to the public, will take place via Zoom on Wednesday, January 27, from 6 to 7:15 p.m. The book discussed will be Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. It is written as a letter to the author’s teenage son about the feelings, symbolism, and realities of being black in the United States.

The book talk is presented by South Jersey Holocaust Coalition and New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education, with funding from One Jewish Community—Jewish Federation of Cumberland, Gloucester & Salem Counties.

Coalition member Shoshana Osofsky will facilitate each of the discussions, for which people should come with an open mind and heart, and be prepared to engage in spirited and civil discussion in which everyone has a right to feel safe in what they say.

Reading of the book under discussion is recommended, but not required. A movie version of Between the World and Me is also available in various platforms for additional insight.

The tentative schedule for future book discussions will be: Apeirogon by Colum McCann (February), Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, Years of Infamy by Michi Weglyn, Perpetrators, Victims, Bystanders by Raul Hilberg, Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor by Yossi Klein Halevi, and How to be an Antiracist by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi.

Osofsky brings to these discussions a deep and passionate sensitivity and involvement in causes relating to social justice, as well as the fight against anti-Semitism, racism, discrimination, and cultural biases.

The chairperson of Holocaust Coalition is Harry Furman, a former Social Studies teacher who pioneered the first New Jersey high school semester course on the Holocaust and genocide, The Conscience of Man.

Educators, students, and the public are invited to take part. Registration (password protected) is required for each session and will be limited to allow participants to dig deeper. Please register by visiting the Coalition website—www.holocaustcoalition.com

For more information on this and all South Jersey Holocaust Coalition events and activities, please visit the Coalition’s website at www.holocaustcoalition.com. Please see their Facebook page at “South Jersey Holocaust Coalition” for interesting articles and information about the Holocaust and related subjects. You may also email holocaustcoalition@gmail.com