Parent Speaker Series
Please join us on Wednesday, February 5, at 6:00 p.m. on Zoom for our next presentation of the Parent Speaker Series, Building Bridges: A Courageous Conversation on Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and Building Understanding. We will hear from Dr. Mehnaz Afridi, a Muslim-American educator, and Dr. Noam Weissman, a Jewish-American educator, about Jewish and Muslim identity and the pressing issues and discrimination these groups face today.
In this session Dr. Afridi and Dr. Weissman will explore the historical roots of antisemitic and Islamophobic prejudices, how they manifest in today’s world, and their effects on Jewish and Muslim communities. The session will explore the challenges and opportunities in tackling these issues, offering practical strategies to promote understanding, empathy, and respectful dialogue. Dr. Weissman and Dr. Afridi aim to provide participants with the knowledge and tools to recognize prejudice and contribute to a more inclusive and compassionate society.
This important and timely discussion is part of BWL’s partnership with ConnectEd, a 19-member cohort of independent schools working to facilitate constructive dialogue and courageous conversations around the conflict in the Middle East, among other challenging topics. This work connects to the BWL pillars of Embracing Constructive Dialogue and Building Lifelong Relationships while also supporting our updated Statement on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging that focuses on shared values and open discourse rather than identity-based separation. Our efforts and partnership with ConnectED help augment these ongoing initiatives and provide additional insight and tools to support and further our goal of creating an environment where we engage in difficult conversations in healthy ways, find common ground, and appreciate other perspectives.
About Dr. Mehnaz Afridi:
Dr. Mehnaz Afridi is a Professor of Religious studies and Director of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Interfaith Education Center at Manhattan University. She teaches courses on Islam, the Holocaust, genocide, comparative religion, and feminism.
Her last book, Shoah Through Muslim Eyes (Academic Studies Press, 2017), was nominated for the Yad Vashem International Book Prize for Holocaust Research and the Jacob Schnitzer Book Award. She is currently working on The Wounded Muslim (Lexington Books, forthcoming) and a co-edited book on Global Approaches to the Holocaust (Nebraska University Press, forthcoming).
In 2019, she was awarded the Costello Award for teaching excellence in the School of Liberal Arts and the Lasallian Educator (2020) at Manhattan College. She is also a U.S. State Department Member on the delegation for the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. She also serves as a member of the Committee of Ethics, Religion, and the Holocaust at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, D.C.
Afridi obtained her Ph.D. from the University of South Africa and her M.A. and B.A. from Syracuse University.
About Dr. Noam Weissman:
Dr. Noam Weissman is the Executive Vice President at ConnectED and OpenDor Media, where he leads the organization's educational vision and philosophy, focusing on developing meaningful content and resources for students and educators.
Weissman hosts the popular podcast Unpacking Israeli History and leads Unpacked’s content across all platforms. He also heads the Unpacked for Educators division, which is utilized by over 2,000 educational institutions worldwide to explore topics such as Jewish history, Israel, antisemitism, and Jewish identity.
He earned his doctorate in educational psychology, with a specialization in curriculum design, from the University of Southern California. Previously, he served as the principal of Shalhevet High School. He is a Civil Society Fellow and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
The BWL Parent Speaker Series was established in the 2022–2023 school year to bring members of the wider community into BWL’s ongoing dialogue about issues that are important to families today. Whether the featured speaker is an expert on mindfulness, the college process, or freedom of speech, parents can count on a thought-provoking lecture and Q&A with thought leaders whose work is helping to shape our society at large and whose influence is felt in many corners of life including education, parenting, technology, and mental health. The evenings are open to the public and many of our speakers are published authors whose books are available on site.