Honey jar courtesy of Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art; Slow Down Freight Train, by Rose Piper, Copyright © Rose Piper, 1946 Courtesy of Spertus Museum; archeological artifact courtesy of Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art
In recognition of May as Jewish American Heritage Month, Moment is delighted to present, with the generous support of Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces, this first annual guide. We invite you to use it as a starting point for your journeys and discover the dynamic Jewish cultural organizations that exist, sometimes in the least expected places.—Diana Cohen Altman, Culture Editor
“Jewish Americans have contributed to the strength of our country and the preservation of our values. The talent and imagination of these citizens have helped our nation prosper, and their efforts continue to remind us of America’s gift of religious freedom.”—U.S. Presidential Proclamation of Jewish American Heritage Month, 2006
The average American knows more about the Jews who left Egypt 3,000 years ago than about the Jews who came to America over the past 355 years. When American history textbooks mention Jews, it’s often in connection with the Holocaust. But as the presidential proclamation makes clear, Jews have been part of the fabric of American life since their first steps on American soil in 1654. Jews have extended the boundaries of American pluralism, serving as a model for other religious minorities and expanding the definition of American religious liberty so that they and others would be included as equals. Jewish American history offers us the opportunity to explore how Jews have flourished in a free and pluralistic society where church and state are separated and religion is entirely voluntary. The institutions listed in this guide—archives, historical societies, museums and more—have taken the lead in preserving and recounting that story. Thanks to them, people here and abroad are becoming versed in the American Jewish experience. During Jewish American Heritage Month, in particular, we owe these institutions our gratitude.
—Jonathan D. Sarna is Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, Brandeis University, and author of American Judaism: A History.
Sephardic Torah courtesy of Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art; Elephant and Dog, Mark W. McGinnis, Courtesy of Mizel Museum; Inset of Statue of Liberty Chanukah Lamp, Manfred Anson, Courtesy of Skirball Cultural Center
MUSEUMS, ARCHIVES AND HISTORICAL SOCIETIES: A SELECTED LIST
Click here to read about exploring the Jewish Heritage Trail with children
UNITED STATES:
NORTHEAST/MID-ATLANTIC
Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington/Lillian & Albert Small
Jewish Museum
The society’s wealth of archival moment/images and oral histories illuminate a Washington, DC, that few tourists have an opportunity to see. Walking tours and programs like “Anna Shulman: The Queen of H Street” take visitors beyond the modern-day Federal Triangle to a time when Jewish shopkeepers conducted business and worshiped in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol.
701 4th St., NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 789-0900
www.jhsgw.org
Museum of Jewish Heritage
Discover lives and communities lost to the Shoah and learn the story of survivors through their belongings. See the trumpet belonging to Louis Bannet, known as the “Dutch Louis Armstrong,” who managed to hold on to the instrument throughout his time with the Men’s Orchestra at Birkenau—as well as a new exhibit, “Beyond Swastika and Jim Crow: Jewish Refugee Scholars at Black Colleges.”
Edmond J. Safra Plaza
36 Battery Pl.
New York, NY 10280
(646) 437-4200
www.mjhnyc.org
National Museum of
American Jewish History
Located in the city that gave birth to the Declaration of Independence, the museum chronicles Jewish history in the U.S. and includes artifacts ranging from a Yiddish translation of Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography to a collection of 20th-century seltzer bottles. In 2010 the museum will open its spacious new facility with five floors of interactive exhibition space.
Independence Mall East
55 North 5th St.
Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 923-3811
www.nmajh.org
Tenement Museum
“It was as though people had just picked up and left. It was a little time capsule,” museum co-founder Anita Jacobson has said about 97 Orchard Street. Touring this preserved tenement building on Manhattan’s Lower East Side is a sensual immersion in “the immigrant experience.” Seven thousand immigrants—Jews and non-Jews—called its confined spaces home.
108 Orchard St.
New York, NY 10002
(212) 431-0233
www.tenement.org/index.php
SOUTH
Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life/Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience
Jews, many of them shopkeepers, began to settle in the South in the late 17th century and the Institute celebrates their unique culture. The museum includes two historic sites in Utica and Natchez. In Natchez, an 1843 synagogue, now a Jewish history center, is nestled among elegant antebellum and Victorian homes.
213 South Commerce Street
Natchez, MS 39120
3863 Morrison Road
Utica, MS 39175
(601) 362-6357
www.msje.org
Jewish Museum of Florida
The Jewish presence in Florida dates back more than 250 years, long before the advent of condos and golf courses. The museum highlights the roles Jewish Floridians have played in shaping all aspects of life in Florida, from helping to abolish slavery to developing key municipal policies.
301 Washington Ave.
Miami Beach, FL 33139
(305) 672-5044
www.jewishmuseum.com
MIDWEST
Janice Charach Gallery
One of many that have opened in Jewish community centers and synagogues around the country, the gallery exhibits glass, ceramics, painting, fiber arts, photography and more. Displays rotate with regional events such as Michigan Glass Month.
D. Dan and Betty Kahn Building
6600 West Maple Rd.
West Bloomfield, MI 48322
(248) 432-5448
www.jccdet.org/culturalarts/gallery.shtml
Spertus Museum
Reflect on displays with themes such as “Beauty and Loss” and “Aesthetics and Function” or learn about cross-cultural influences in Jewish art. The museum is located in Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies’ critically acclaimed glass edifice.
610 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60605
(312) 322-1700
www.spertus.edu
WEST
Judah L. Magnes Museum
A gold mine for researchers on topics of Jewish cultural life and history, visitors may be especially interested in the archives of the museum’s Western Jewish History Center, which documents the influence Jews have had in the American West.
2911 Russell St.
Berkeley, CA 94705
(510) 549-6950
www.magnes.org
Mizel Museum
This quirky museum in downtown Denver has taken interactive cross cultural programming to new heights. Exhibits go beyond Judaism to explore the rituals of African-American, Latino, Muslim, Native-American and Asian-Pacific cultures.
400 S. Kearney St.
Denver, CO 80224
(303) 394-9993
www.mizelmuseum.org
Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art
From the Early Bronze Age to the history of Jewish Oklahoma, the museum recounts
the story of the Jewish people. The collection includes a cross-stitched representation of the Ten Commandments created in 1771 by eight-year-old Elizabeth Judah, a Canadian Jewish pioneer.
2021 East 71st St.
Tulsa, OK 74136
(918) 492-1818
www.jewishmuseum.net
Simon Wiesenthal Center
Museum of Tolerance
The museum, known for its pioneering work in tolerance training, features exhibits that highlight the consequences of extreme intolerance—including the Holocaust. See the Vienna office of famed Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal for whom the museum is named.
9786 West Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90035
(310) 553-8403
www.museumoftolerance.com
Skirball Cultural Center
Set in a building designed by architect Moshe Safdie, the museum explores “the connections between 4,000 years of Jewish heritage and the vitality of American democratic ideals.” Visit its core exhibition, “Visions and Values: Jewish Life from Antiquity to America,” plus discover what makes comic book heroes Jewish.
2701 North Sepulveda Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90049
(310) 440-4500
www.skirball.org
CANADA
Beth Tzedec Reuben & Helene
Dennis Museum
The museum is home to the international collection of preeminent Jewish historian Cecil Roth, the editor of Encyclopedia Judaica, who brought attention to Cairo’s famed Geniza archive. The Roth Collection includes more than 1,000 ceremonial objects, including the Berlin double-seated circumcision chair.
1700 Bathurst St.
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5P 3K3
(416) 781-3511
www.beth-tzedec.org/museum
CARIBBEAN
Weibel Museum/St. Thomas Synagogue
Originally built in 1796 by Sephardic Jews who migrated as a result of the Spanish Inquisition, the synagogue is one of the New World’s oldest. Sand on the floor recalls the Inquisition, when Jews forced to convert met in cellars and spread sand to muffle the sound of their prayers.
15 Crystal Gade Charlotte Amalie
St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
(340) 774-4312
www.onepaper.com/synagogue
ARCHIVE
Jewish Women’s Archive
The archive functions as an online “Museum of the Jewish Woman.” An interactive website provides everything from an oral history project called “Weaving Women’s Words” to a film entitled Making Trouble: To Be Funny, Jewish and Female, to a blog known as “Jewesses with Attitude.”
www.jwa.org
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