Assembly Resolution No. 1072

BY: M. of A. Lawler

RECOGNIZING the contributions of the Rockland
County Holocaust Museum and Center for Tolerance and
Education in working to End Jew Hate

WHEREAS, Individuals and organizations devoted to improving the
quality of life for others, enabling them to build lives of dignity and
self-worth are deserving of the highest praise and recognition; and

WHEREAS, This Legislative Body is justly proud to recognize the
contributions of the Rockland County Holocaust Museum and Center for
Tolerance and Education in working to End Jew Hate; and

WHEREAS, The Rockland County Holocaust Museum and Center for
Tolerance and Education is an institution dedicated to educating all who
wish to learn about the Holocaust, genocide, and grave human rights
violations in order to promote understanding of causes and consequences,
thereby enabling the foresight necessary to prevent similar recurrences;
and

WHEREAS, The idea of a permanent Holocaust Museum and Center for
Tolerance and Education originated with the Rockland County Holocaust
Commission, which was appointed by the County Legislature on May 15,
1979; and

WHEREAS, In 1981, the Finkelstein Memorial Library granted space for
a home to the newly formed Holocaust Museum and Study Center in Spring
Valley, New York; and

WHEREAS, Since its inception, the museum has been an important
cultural and educational center for the region; as the community
continued to grow and educational needs changed, the organization
adopted a new name: the Holocaust Museum and Center for Tolerance and
Education; and

WHEREAS, During this time, museum stakeholders identified an
increasing need for Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights education on
the campus of Rockland Community College (RCC); subsequently, in 2015
the museum closed its doors in Spring Valley and moved to the RCC campus
in Suffern, New York; and

WHEREAS, Remaining true to its mission, the Rockland County
Holocaust Museum and Center for Tolerance and Education educates,
through the lens of the Holocaust, about the dangers of intolerance, to
invoke critical thinking, and to inspire moral courage in the face of
injustice; and

WHEREAS, Furthermore, this vital institution facilitates an
understanding of the universal nature of human dignity and the critical
importance to respect and defend it; and

WHEREAS, Working collaboratively with individuals and organizations
who share its commitment to justice for all people, the Rockland County
Holocaust Museum and Center for Tolerance and Education serves and

builds its community through quality educational programming and
commemoration events; and

WHEREAS, The Rockland County Holocaust Museum and Center for
Tolerance and Education also confronts acts of ignorance, hatred, and
injustice by serving as a model of community engagement directed by
informed, rational understanding; and

WHEREAS, The Holocaust Museum and Center for Tolerance and Education
is proud to be a part of the EndJewHatred movement, a grassroots civil
rights movement engaged in peaceful direct action to end Jew hatred in
this generation; and

WHEREAS, In an effort to advance the goals of the movement, the
museum set up an End Jew Hatred Task Force which will focus on educating
about the endemic nature of Jew-hatred and how the Holocaust is still
relevant today, as well as unpacking the inherited trauma Jews
experience while teaching them how to shed the fears of the past and
embrace a more confident future without Jew-hatred; and

WHEREAS, The combination of decentralizing communications technology
and rising civil rights activism have created a unique opportunity for
Jews to advocate for full liberation from bigotry and oppression; and

WHEREAS, We learn in the aftermath of the Holocaust that
indifference to genocide cannot be tolerated; Holocaust remembrance
imposes a moral obligation to speak out; and

WHEREAS, The People of the State of New York should remain eternally
vigilant against all tyranny and recognize that bigotry provides a
breeding ground for tyranny to flourish; and

WHEREAS, This Legislative Body representing the people of the State
of New York is proud to recognize the vital work of the Rockland County
Holocaust Museum and Center for Tolerance and Education in working to
End Jew Hate, and its many years of steadfast and unwavering commitment
to the victims of the Holocaust, their families and the Jewish
community-at-large; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
recognize the contributions of the Rockland County Holocaust Museum and
Center for Tolerance and Education in working to End Jew Hate; and be it
further

RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be
transmitted to the Rockland County Holocaust Museum and Center for
Tolerance and Education.