Center for Holocaust Awareness and Information (CHAI)

The Federation's Center for Holocaust Awareness and Information (CHAI) works to ensure that the Holocaust and its lessons are not forgotten. Its acronym, CHAI, meaning "life" in Hebrew, reflects the mission of The Center, to keep alive the memory of the Holocaust through the life stories of local survivors and their families. The Center is located on site at the Jewish Federation and can be reached by phone at 585.241.8637.
 

NY State mandates the teaching of the Holocaust, and we know that Holocaust Education is vital for creating a just world. We are here to provide teachers, educators, and community members with all they need to engage in this important work.

CHAI offers: 

• On-site library and media center including 1,200 books, 400 videos and 70 survivor testimonies

• Publications including the website PerilousJourneys.org, a web version of the book Perilous Journeys, stories of peril and rescue as told by ten area Holocaust survivors

•  Teacher and student interschool conferences

• CHAI Update (o register to receive a copy via email, contact abourgeois@jewishrochester.org)

• Community programming on the Holocaust.

• Community programming for survivors, families, and families of those who's loved onesperished in the Holocaust.

• Speaker's Bureau and "Survivors in th Classroom".

• Poster series and photography exhibit available for loan​

• CHAI helps lead the teen Journey for Identity, providing teenagers with the opportunity to travel from Rochester to Poland and Israel.

• CHAI helps lead Zikaron, providing 8^th and 9^th graders with the opportunity to engage in in-depth learning on the holocaust, meet with survivors, and travel to Washington DC and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.