by George J Elbaum

Jewish Family and Children’s Services (JFCS) is a San Francisco Bay Area social services organization whose mission statement is “Serving individuals and families of all faiths and backgrounds, guided by the Jewish value of caring for those in our community most in need.”  JFCS’s Holocaust Center also conducts teacher training seminars focused on teaching moral courage and social responsibility.  As part of that effort, the Center held a pre-conference clinic for a group of teachers from throughout the U.S. and South America who were participating in the annual educator conference of the National Council for the Social Studies, and who chose the JFCS seminar on Holocaust education as their area of interest. My talk was a part of this seminar, and I much enjoyed fielding their questions and the one-on-one conversations with several of them afterwards.

The event was arranged by Nikki Bambauer, Program Coordinator of the JFCS Holocaust Center, and was attended by Morgan Blum Schneider, its Director of Education, plus JFCS’s new Associate Director Alexis Herr.  Whereas the Q&A at the end of each talk is always my favorite as then I learn and can address the interests of the audience, this time it came with an added and very pleasant surprise: presumably in response to my sweet tooth that I describe in my talks, Morgan brought out a plateful of chocolate chip cookies for all of us, and I found myself answering questions while munching on a delicious cookie.  Thank you, Morgan!