Lawrence Mayor Samuel Nahmias will be one of the honorees at the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center’s 30th annual Tribute Dinner next month.
Nahmias will receive the HMTC Honoree Award in recognition of his efforts to bridge the gap between communities on Long Island’s north and south shores, and his outspoken opposition to heightened antisemitism since Hamas’s attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
“We are always looking to further our message and our reach,” Bali Lerner, executive director of the HMTC, said. “We feel our work is so important, and we’re always trying to reach other communities. We felt there’s no better time to get the South Shore community more involved than now.”
“Given their location, they need more South Shore involvement,” Nahmias said of the center, which is in Glen Cove. “With my position in Lawrence and my advocacy for many different things in the community, I like to help communities.”
The honor, he added, would be heartfelt, because his grandfather was a political refugee during World War II, having emigrated to Uruguay before the war began.
“He wasn’t a religious man,” Nahmias said. “He was playing poker on a Friday night instead of going to temple.” His grandfather, he said, eventually became chief counsel to the president of Uruguay.
“It’s a very dear place for me,” Nahmias added of the HMTC. “We live in some really crazy times, with antisemitism at an all-time high, and we keep saying ‘never again.’ Unfortunately, what we though was history is coming back again.”
Amid the rise in antisemitism, Nahmias wants to remind the world that the Jewish people will not go quietly into the night again. “That is what this really means to me,” he said. “It’s very important and dear to me that we tell everybody, and make everyone aware of this.”
“It’s a great honor to stand up and be a part of this organization,” he said of HMTC, “to educate and help people understand.”
The dinner will be hosted by the Old Westbury Hebrew Congregation on Nov. 20, and will also honor HMTC Vice Chair Jolanta Zamecka with the Chartan Maier Founders Award. Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter John Ondrasik will receive the Pillar of Courage Award.
Tribute Dinner Committee Chair Robert Raphael has organized the event for the past two years. He took over because the events of Oct. 7 made it clear to him that it’s not enough to talk about change — the Jewish community must act.
“Planning such an important evening requires a tremendous amount of time, coordination and effort,” Raphael wrote in an email. “This event allows us to champion a cause that matters and brings communities together in a unified stand against hate.”
With 650 people expected to attend, Raphael is eager to acknowledge those whose leadership and hard work have strengthened the center’s mission. “They deserve to be celebrated for all they’ve done to advance this vital cause,” he wrote.
Raphael added that he was looking forward to standing alongside others who recognize the urgent need to confront the rise of antisemitism. “We will celebrate the resilience and beauty of the Jewish community and our partners who champion equal rights and American values,” he wrote. “Together, we will highlight how HMTC continues to lead with impactful education and advocacy.”
The dinner, Lerner said, is a time to come together to acknowledge the center’s ongoing work. “Our founders are all Long Island families of survivors,” she said. “Their goal was to keep their families’ stories and testimonies alive. Some made it through the Holocaust, and unfortunately, a lot did not.”
Another goal of the founders was to share the lessons Jews learned so that no other group of people would have to endure a similar experience.
“We fought alongside every marginalized group,” Lerner added. “Unfortunately, today, with the rise in anti-Semitism, we are fighting a fight that I think the survivors never thought they would be fighting.”
Each year, according to Lerner, the HMTC uses the lessons of the Holocaust to educate more than 30,000 people about what happens when hate goes unchecked.
“The dinner is really a time when we can turn back and look at what we accomplished,” she said. “As much as we’ve accomplished, we have so much more to go. The upcoming dinner is going to be exactly that.”
To register for the event, visit hmtcli.org/events. Seats are limited.
