JFR Advanced Seminar
Continuing the journey of Holocaust education through intensive scholarly exchange and historical inquiry.
An Evolution of Learning
The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous (JFR) held its first Advanced Seminar in January 2024. Teachers who attended the JFR's Summer Institute for Teachers were seeking additional professional development and asked the JFR to establish a seminar which would provide access to additional Holocaust teacher education.
Purpose of the Advanced Seminar
The Advanced Seminar seeks to provide participants the opportunity to continue their study of the Holocaust by offering in-depth lectures on specific areas of the Holocaust by bringing leading Holocaust scholars to present.
Academic Excellence
Providing educators with the historical depth required to teach one of humanity's most complex eras.
Who Attends the Advanced Seminar
The Advanced Seminar is open to JFR Alfred Lerner Fellows who are still teaching the Holocaust in their classroom and/or are Holocaust Center educators. Teachers applying to the Advanced Seminar need a sign-off from their nominating Holocaust center confirming that the teacher is still involved with the center. If the Holocaust center of a teacher applying to attend the Advanced Seminar is no longer part of the JFR Holocaust Centers of Excellence Program, the JFR will serve as the teacher’s center for the purpose of center sign-off.
Presenting Scholars
The JFR engages world-class Holocaust scholars to present. Below are some of the Holocaust scholars who have lectured at a JFR Advanced Seminar.
Subject Areas Covered
Seminar Format
The Advanced Seminar is held annually over Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend. Participants arrive Friday evening. The Seminar is held all day Saturday and Sunday. Each scholar presents two lectures followed by a Q & A session. The venue is the Hilton Newark Airport.
Since the seminar is residential, teachers are able to spend time with the scholars as well as develop relationships with other educators from across the United States.
A hallmark of JFR education programs is required reading. Each scholar provides a reading assignment. There is a participant fee to attend the program. The Advanced Seminar is limited to between 22 and 24 participants.
Reflection Paper
Following the Advanced Seminar each participant is required to submit a reflection paper.
The JFR is interested to know how the Advanced Seminar positively impacts the ability of teachers and Holocaust Center staff to teach the Holocaust. The JFR asks each participant to provide the JFR with a short 1-2-page paper on how the educator intends to change their Holocaust unit with respect to content - what is being added, modified, and/or not included as a result of attending the Advanced Seminar.
We also would like to know if the educator plans to change how the material is presented to their students. Holocaust center staff should provide feedback as to how the Advanced Seminar will impact their center's educational programs and initiatives.
Advanced Seminar Programs from 2020 through 2026
Below are the programs and presenting scholars from the 2020 Advanced Seminar through the 2026 Advanced Seminar.
2026 Advanced Seminar
"The Limits and Possibilities of Al in Holocaust Education and Research"
"Surfacing Connections, Navigating Challenges"
"The Challenges/Opportunities of Holocaust Education and Contemporary Antisemitism"
2025 Advanced Seminar
"The U.S. and the Holocaust: An Overview""American Business and Nazi Persecution, 1933-41"
"Americans' Responses to the 'Final Solution' 1942-45"
"Nazism and the March of Time before World War II"
2024 Advanced Seminar
"Exploring the Roots of Antisemitism and Racism"
"Trajectories of antisemitism before and after October 7, 2023"
"Conspiracy Thinking and Disease Imagery in Hatred of the Jews"
"Left Wing Antisemitism: Contemporary Manifestations"
2023 Advanced Seminar
"The Holocaust in Ukraine"
"The Politics of Holocaust Memory in Eastern Europe Today"
"Critical Thinking and Teaching the Holocaust: Creating Activities that Promote Historical Inquiry"
2022 Advanced Seminar
"Infinitely Adaptable Disinformation: The Dynamics of Holocaust Denial and Distortion"
"Considering Humiliation: The Purpose, Process, and Effects of Dehumanization"
"Three Lines in History: Jewish Resistance during the Holocaust"
2021 Advanced Seminar - on Zoom
2020 Advanced Seminar
"Model lesson on teaching about Antisemitism"
"New Research on the Evolution of the Nazi Concentration Camp System, 1933-1945"
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