Bridging Cultures to Empower Liberty & Nurture Tolerance

At the Emma Lazarus Institute (ELI), we envision a world where liberty, religious moderation, and pluralistic values are not only preserved but strategically advanced as bulwarks against extremism and ideological fragmentation. Anchored in liberal ideals and inspired by the rich Sephardi tradition of interfaith dialogue and civilizational synthesis (convivencia), ELI serves as a cultural and policy incubator addressing the dangerously alarming chasm between the Democratic West and the Moderate East. We believe that true deradicalization is not solely a matter of security or rhetoric—it is a cultural and epistemological shift. ELI thus pioneers a holistic approach that aligns policy innovation with cultural strategy, recognizing that transformation begins in the stories we tell, the art we elevate, the platforms we empower, and the relationships we forge across historical fault lines.

Our Mission in Action:

The Abrahamic Summits for Deradicalization and Denazification:

These high-level gatherings convene policymakers, cultural influencers, historians, technologists, and civil society leaders to examine the ideological roots of radicalism and present actionable strategies for societal healing. Inspired by Germany’s denazification process and the Abraham Accords’ momentum, these summits are both diagnostic and generative, offering frameworks that can be adapted across the Middle East, North Africa, and Western societies grappling with polarization and identity crises.

Training Cultural Influencers and Media Personalities:

We equip next-generation media personalities, social media advocates, and cultural entrepreneurs with tools to responsibly shape narratives around identity, coexistence, and reform. Through mentorship, historical grounding, and media strategy, our training program empowers a new class of digital storytellers who counteract extremism not with censorship, but with clarity, creativity, and compassion.

Curated Events and Exhibitions:

From immersive art installations to interfaith salons and historical retrospectives, our events activate public consciousness and create safe spaces for difficult conversations. These gatherings are designed to be emotionally resonant and intellectually rigorous—platforms where memory, identity, and innovation intersect to imagine a shared future. We have hosted groundbreaking interfaith and cross-cultural events in New York, Jerusalem and Dubai and we are just getting started.

The Emma Lazarus Poetry Fellowship:

Supervised by a visionary poet, this unique fellowship- launching soon- will support emerging poets from marginalized and borderland identities. It revives Emma Lazarus’s legacy by affirming the poetic voice as a tool for belonging, resistance, and bridge-building. Fellows receive mentorship, participate in public readings and cultural festivals, and publish works that challenge extremist narratives and cultural silos, awakening shared humanity.

Cultural Strategy for Policy Impact:

Through white papers, public campaigns, policy recommendations and briefings, campus lectures and panel discussions, we infuse policymaking with cultural intelligence to deradicalize society and charter a path for sustainable regional integration in the Middle-East. We advise governmental and non-governmental institutions, think tanks, and philanthropic stakeholders on how to counter radicalism and on the best ways to integrate arts, identity discourse, and historical memory into peacebuilding.

Our North Star is the conviction that peace is not merely the absence of violence—it is the presence of dignity, memory, mutual recognition, and the infrastructure of belonging.

From New York to Abu Dhabi, Rabat to Riyadh, and Tel Aviv to Berlin, the Emma Lazarus Institute is forging a global alliance of cultural architects and policy visionaries committed to building a civilization where no one must choose between identity and peace, tradition and modernity, or security and freedom.

-Chama Mechtaly,
Founder of the Emma Lazarus Institute for Liberty & Tolerance.