Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation Honors Moral Courage At Yankee Stadium, Announces Decode Hate Expansion

NEW YORK, UNITED STATES | The Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation presented its annual Moral Courage Awards at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, recognizing five individuals for confronting antisemitism and hatred while posthumously honoring 24-year-old Harlem legislative director Ousmane Diallo for his work in public service, youth empowerment, and Muslim-Jewish bridge-building.

The event also produced a major commitment to expand AJCF’s Decode Hate education program. New York State Assembly Member Landon Dais announced that he intends to allocate a six-figure capital grant to help build the infrastructure needed to bring the program to schools across New York State.

The 2026 Moral Courage Award recipients were Rachel Amar, co-founder of MODA; Gil Cygler, an AJCF board member; Moshe Kinderlehrer, co-founder and co-publisher of The Jewish Link; Rebecca Sassouni, of counsel at Wisselman Harounian Family Law; and Lisa “Malkie” Vider, operator and administrator of Oceanview Manor Home for Adults.

Diallo’s family accepted the award on his behalf.

Ousmane Diallo Honored Posthumously

Diallo served as legislative director for New York State Assembly Member Al Taylor, a Democrat representing Harlem, before his death on July 18.

A lifelong Harlem resident, he was also a longtime youth leader with the National Action Network and had devoted much of his young career to public service and community engagement.

At the time of his death, Diallo was participating in a fellowship organized through the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York focused on strengthening relationships between Muslim and Jewish New Yorkers.

AJCF said his work reflected the values the Moral Courage Awards are intended to recognize: speaking against hatred, building bridges across communities and accepting personal responsibility for strengthening civic life.

“The Holocaust and slavery are among the darkest chapters in human history. Education helps us understand that pain and stand together against hatred today,” Dais said.

“Ousmane dedicated his life to serving Harlem and building bridges between Muslim and Jewish communities. We honor his memory by continuing that work.”

Decode Hate Reached More Than 25,000 Students

The grant commitment announced by Dais comes as AJCF prepares to expand Decode Hate beyond New York City.

During the 2025-2026 academic year, the program reached more than 25,000 New York City public school students across all five boroughs, according to the Foundation.

The initiative operates through a partnership involving AJCF, the New York City Council and New York City Public Schools.

AJCF says it plans to begin expanding the program statewide during the 2026-2027 academic year with support from the New York State Assembly, New York State Senate and Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Decode Hate combines Holocaust and antisemitism education with digital literacy and civic responsibility.

Students participate in interactive workshops led by trained AJCF facilitators, while teachers receive advance and follow-up lesson materials intended to reinforce what students learn in the sessions.

The program focuses on helping young people identify antisemitism, racism, misinformation and online hatred, while developing the skills to respond rather than remain passive.

AJCF’s broader mission centers on using Holocaust education to help participants recognize how prejudice and discrimination can escalate when hatred is normalized or left unchallenged. The Foundation describes education as a central tool in preventing hatred from becoming accepted social behavior.

“Holocaust Memory Has Meaning Only When It Changes How the Living Behave”

Jack Simony, president and director general of AJCF, connected the awards and the Decode Hate expansion to the Foundation’s emphasis on turning Holocaust memory into action.

“Holocaust memory has meaning only when it changes how the living behave,” Simony said.

“The people we honored understand that confronting hatred is not someone else’s responsibility. Ousmane Diallo embodied that responsibility in a life cut far too short.”

Simony said the funding commitment from Dais would allow that work to reach more students.

“Assembly Member Dais’s investment will carry Decode Hate into more classrooms, giving young people the knowledge to recognize hatred and the courage to reject it before it becomes normal.”

The message reflects AJCF’s broader educational philosophy.

The Foundation operates programs for students, educators, military personnel, law-enforcement officers and the general public, with an emphasis on understanding the consequences of unchecked hatred and the responsibility individuals have to confront it.

Honourees Reflect Different Forms of Civic Leadership

The five living award recipients represented fields ranging from journalism and law to elder care, Jewish communal leadership and advocacy.

Vider said her experience caring for older adults had shaped her understanding of moral responsibility.

“After more than 25 years caring for older New Yorkers, I have learned that dignity depends on who shows up when people are most vulnerable,” she said.

“AJCF teaches young people to recognize hatred early, speak when others are targeted and refuse to stand by. I am honored to receive this award and accept it as a responsibility to continue the work.”

Cygler’s recognition also carries a direct institutional connection. He serves on AJCF’s board and executive committee, according to the Foundation’s current leadership listing.

From Oświęcim to New York Classrooms

The Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation operates in both New York and Oświęcim, the Polish town the Nazis renamed Auschwitz during the Second World War.

Its work in Poland includes maintaining the Auschwitz Jewish Center, which preserves the history of the Jewish community that lived in Oświęcim before the Holocaust.

The Foundation maintains the Chevra Lomdei Mishnayot Synagogue, the sole surviving Jewish house of prayer in Oświęcim, as well as a museum, educational facilities and other preserved Jewish heritage sites.

Its programs seek to connect the history of the Holocaust to contemporary challenges involving antisemitism, racism, extremism and other forms of hatred.

AJCF also operates the American Service Academies Program, which brings U.S. military cadets and midshipmen into Holocaust education focused on ethical leadership, and supports victims of contemporary mass atrocities, including displaced Ukrainians and Israelis affected by the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack.

Education as Prevention

The Moral Courage Awards come at a time when Jewish organizations in the United States and Canada continue to report heightened concern about antisemitism, particularly among young people and in digital spaces.

AJCF’s approach places particular emphasis on early education.

Decode Hate is designed not only to teach the history of antisemitism and the Holocaust, but to show students how hatred can spread through misinformation, repetition, social pressure and online platforms.

The statewide expansion planned for the coming school year would substantially increase the program’s reach beyond New York City.

For AJCF, the connection between honoring individuals such as Diallo and expanding classroom education is deliberate.

One recognizes people who acted.

The other seeks to prepare students to do the same.

As Simony told those gathered at Yankee Stadium, Holocaust remembrance carries meaning only when it influences how people respond to hatred in the present.

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