Worlds Apart But Not Strangers: Learning From Holocaust & Native American Experience to Confront Extremism and Intolerance

Worlds Apart But Not Strangers brought together 25 teachers from Montana and Idaho to learn about the Holocaust and mass persecution of Native Americans. The program included visits to North Cheyenne reservation, tribal sacred grounds (see photo above), and the Bighorn battlefield in southern Montana. The group also visited the Beth Aaron Synagogue and received an overview of Judaism from Rabbi  Uriarte. Educators spent many intensive hours in collaboration with peers and focused on writing to absorb and transmit the lessons of the Holocaust to their students.

Ileah Bodily, a middle school teacher from Rigby, Idaho: “I intend to teach more about the land we live on, the genocide of Native American.” She added, “The TOLI program has given me so many tools how to teach religious conflict and cultures” Referring to the attacks on synagogues in the US she added, “The students want to know ‘why’ these terrible events happened. This seminar gives us the tools to lead conversation.”

Brett Nichols, a history teacher from Billings, Mt, and another participant in the program, “This seminar helps build a better world, a better human being. What we want from program like this is to understand humanity and pass it along to our students”