US student’s Shoah bill
Dual US/Australian citizen Noah Kleinlehrer want to leave his mark on his state of Missouri, by spearheading a state bill to mandate a week of Holocaust education in Missouri public schools.
DUAL US/Australian citizen Noah Kleinlehrer says he wanted to “leave my mark” on his state of Missouri before going to university to study political science and international affairs next year.
The high school senior has spearheaded a state bill to mandate a week of Holocaust education in Missouri public schools and testified before a House Committee in late January.
Two years ago he began delving into the history of the Shoah and antisemitism while at the same time advocating against antisemitism by going into schools to speak about “the lessons we’ve learned from the Shoah”.
“I was off to university in a year or so and I had done all this work advocating for Shoah education, antisemitism, and I really want to leave my mark on my state of Missouri before I left,” he said.
“They had just made legislation in Colorado … Texas, Illinois, Arkansas, Kentucky, I believe, a wide variety of states. So I thought why don’t we mandate Holocaust education here in Missouri.”
Kleinlehrer approached the head of history at his school who suggested he get in touch with some representatives who had visited the school.
Eventually he connected with a newly elected Jewish representative near his area. He also joined forces with a St Louis rabbi who had helped get a similar bill passed in Texas.
“It’s been smooth sailing since then. We had meetings set up within weeks. He [the representative] was gracious with meeting with us, discussing what points we should put in, what opposition we would face, stuff like that,” Kleinlehrer said.
He said of testifying before the House Committee, “I was just really excited to be there.”
The bill is currently with the administrative oversight committee in the House.
“The next step is it will be voted to be put on the floor of the House of Representatives where the congressmen and women can debate on it,” he said.
He added, “We’ve received so much support – from students, educators, people who aren’t Jewish. People are very supportive of this bill just because I think it represents something larger … It’s about us as humans.”
Kleinlehrer was born in St Louis but has lived in Australia. His extended family have been long-term benefactors of Emanuel School, his father Robert is a former executive member of Maccabi NSW, and his mother, Rabbi Elizabeth Hersh, previously served at Emanuel Synagogue.
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