Due to rising incidents of antisemitism, an amendment to our state budget signed Monday by Gov. Maura Healey Senate will require teaching about antisemitism. The amendment calls for for the creation of a Special Commission on Antisemitism and directs the state education department to to provide resources to schools to address hatred against Jewish people.

This mandate was based on the May 2023 National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, which says, “Both antisemitism and Holocaust education specifically can also teach students about hate, bigotry, racism and prejudice more broadly. When conducted effectively, Holocaust education provides enduring lessons for all communities and encourages students to think critically about their own roles and responsibilities to stand up against hate.”

How will this education be “conducted effectively?”

For 35 years, I was a middle school educator. Although the Holocaust specifically was not part of our seventh grade curriculum, the skills of listening to one another, articulating points of view, methods of problem/conflict solving and discussions of justice were embedded everywhere, at every opportunity. In our study of the U.S. Constitution, we examined how different identity groups in this country have had varying opportunities for “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” and discussed what needs to change, and how we, the people, can do this.

We identified the points of view in novels, reflected on how conflicts were resolved, how things might have ended differently. We had lively conversations about cellphones, video games, the internet, the current “power structure” in their own student community. Kids and adolescents are passionate about fairness and justice. They want and need to learn and explore the complex truths of their world in a balanced and fair way.

Yes, the Holocaust and other destructive events perpetrated against Jewish people must be taught. Other historical events also can bring understanding to what is happening today in the Israel/Palestine today: the history of all the ancient semitic peoples; the more recent distinctions between the Zionist political state of Israel and the Jewish religion; the Balfour Declaration after World War I; the creation of Israel and its the region’s history since 1948; and the origins and impacts of colonization in Israel/Palestine.

The Zionist state does not reflect the values of the Jewish religion, although it is understandable that the two might be conflated. I am well aware of the discomfort my Jewish friends are experiencing due to the ongoing horrors: some not wanting others to know they are Jewish, others standing up and speaking out about the ongoing horrors.

How do we challenge the reality that any specific identity group has power/control over another? How do we all commit to learn the truths of others, to stand up against hate or better yet stand up for peace?

Two youth organizations in Palestine/Israel provide models for this: Seeds of Peace, seedsofpeace.org/; and the Jerusalem Youth Chorus, jerusalemyouthchorus.org.

Ken Burns offered another example for learning about and living our humanity. In his address to the Brandeis undergraduate ceremony this summer: “I am interested in listening to the many varied voices of a true, honest, complicated past that is unafraid of controversy and tragedy ... but equally drawn to those stories and moments that suggest an abiding faith in the human spirit.”

Will mandated antisemitsm instruction teach the “many varied voices” of both tragedy and humanity? Will listening and conflict resolution skills and strategies also be mandated? These insights and skills are imperative for our children and for all of us. We must together stand up for humanity and peace.

Chris Mohn of Amherst is a retired educator who is passionate about fairness and justice. She has visited Palestine/Israel and witnessed the impact(s) of this ongoing battle for survival and power.