March 22, 2007
Enews March 2007
Greeetings!
Welcome to the electronic newsletter of the National Museum of American Jewish History. This newsletter is designed to keep you informed of exhibitions, programs and other activities of the NMAJH, the only Museum in the country exclusively presenting educational programs and experiences that preserve, explore and celebrate the history of the Jews in America.
___________________________________
1. ARTIFACTS ON VIEW AT MUSEUM EXHIBITION
That iconic Manischewitz afikomen that children will be searching for at Passover seders throughout the country was founded in Cincinnati by Lithuanian immigrant Rabbi Dov Behr Manischewitz. A reproduction of a Manischewitz matzah box (pictured) is one of many Passover artifacts on display in the Museum's current temporary exhibition, Forshpeis! A Taste of the Peter H. Schweitzer Collection of Jewish Americana.
The "Passover Seder" section demonstrates how traditions are passed through foods that have symbolic meaning and play roles in Jewish rituals. The section explains that Manischewitz began as a small bakery producing matzah and later expanded to produce the machine-made matzah that revolutionized the product. It wasn't until the 1950s that the company began producing canned and jarred foods such as gefilte fish and borscht that are also familiar to American Jews today.
The Forshpeis! exhibition reveals aspects of American Jewish life by looking at food in a range of settings, including in the kitchen and at the deli. Forshpeis! also explores, through the Schweitzer Collection, the role food played in helping immigrant Jews adjust to life in the United States and illustrates how Jewish foods, like American Jews themselves, have become a part of the American mainstream. Admission to the exhibition is free.
Forshpeis is Yiddish for appetizer.
To schedule a visit to the exhibition and Museum, call the Education Department at 215.923.5984 or email Johanna Moss. The Education Department webpage also has more information about Education Department programs and booking tours.
The Forshpeis! exhibition was made possible in part through the generous support of the Independence Foundation, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, and the Philadelphia Cultural Fund. The Museum receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
2. DON'T PASS OVER MUSEUM SHOP PASSOVER SALE
The 20 percent off sale on Passover items at the Museum Shop continues for the next two Sundays, March 25 and April 1. The Museum Shop, open from noon - 5 p.m., offers an array of holiday Judaica, from haggadot to seder plates. In addition, the Museum Shop is offering cookies and coffee for shoppers during the sale days.
Passover revolves around the most elaborate home ritual of all Jewish holidays, the seder meal. Seders can be enhanced with ceremonial objects from the Museum Shop that blend ancient traditions with modern aesthetics and materials to invigorate and reinterpret the ancient Jewish heritage.
The Museum Shop carries more than 120 Passover objects, reflecting a wide variety of artists' styles. Visit the Museum Shop to browse the large assortment of items in all price ranges. For more information contact Eva Schlanger, or call the Museum Shop at 215.923.0262.
Proceeds from the Museum Shop support the National Museum of American Jewish History.
3. MUSEUM SPONSORS FILMS FEATURING NEW FILMMAKERS
Jewish Film Festival New Filmmakers Weekend Begins March 24
When director and filmmaker Kate Feiffer was asked by a rabbi six years ago if she was Jewish, she had no answer as she was a non-practicing Jew celebrating Christmas. Six years later, Kate answers the rabbi's question by exploring issues of religious and ethnic identity with heart and humor through the world premiere of Matzo & Mistletoe, one of four films being featured as part of the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival's New Filmmakers Weekend. The film will be shown Saturday, March 24, 8 p.m. and Sunday March 25, 2 p.m.
Following Matzo & Mitsletoe on Saturday is the Philadelphia premiere of Ethics on the Edges of Life. Directed by Andrew Perlmutter, this documentary film-in-progress explores how the professors and students of a university community address the 30-year-old issue of whether or not religiously motivated arguments are appropriate in public policy discussions.
Guests on the 24th include filmmaker Kate Feiffer, her father, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist and writer Jules Feiffer, and filmmaker Andrew Perlmutter.
The New Filmmakers Weekend continues on March 25 at 2 p.m. with the Italian film Drink to Forget. Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin and other dictators appear on the labels of wine bottles sold in Italy. This 40-minute film attempts to unravel the complex emotional, ethical and legal issues raised by the selling and buying of these images through interviews with the producers and buyers, legal experts, politicians, partisans and members of Italy's Jewish community. Following the film is the second showing of Matzo & Mistletoe.
Guests include filmmakers Kate Feiffer, Patrick Heeren and Carla Molino, and Jules Feiffer.
The New Filmmakers Weekend concludes Monday, March 26 at 7 p.m. with the Philadelphia premiere of Love Iranian-American Style directed by Tanaz Eshaghian.The film gives a humorous guided tour of America's status-obsessed Iranian Jewish community by following Tanaz, a hip New Yorker whose Iranian family attempts to marry her off now that she's reached the ancient age of 25.
Admission on March 24 is $12 and on March 25 and 26, $10. Tickets are half-price for senior adults and students.
All films will be shown at the Gershman Y, 401 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia.
Information about the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival of the Gershman Y can be found on its website. The Museum is a sponsor of the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival.
4. BAROQUE ORCHESTRA TO PREMIERE 18th CENTURY HEBREW WORKS
Pieces Composed for Jewish Communities in Italy and the Netherlands
The Museum and the Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra Tempesta di Mare (pictured) are offering a 10 percent discount to NMAJH E-newsletter subscribers for Hosanna! Hebrew Music of the High Baroque, featuring long-lost works for soloists, chorus and orchestra, being performed Saturday, March 31 in Philadelphia and Sunday, April 1 in Haverford.
The program brings together 50 artists performing eighteenth-century works composed in Hebrew in the styles of Vivaldi and Haydn for Jewish communities in Italy and the Netherlands.
The centerpiece of Hoshanna! is Elyon, Melits u-Mastin (God, Defender & Accuser), an anonymous Handel-style oratorio composed for the Italian Ashkenazi synagogue of Casale Monferrato in 1733 for celebrations that close the Jewish new year. Another featured work is G.C. Lidarti's Kol Haneshama for solo soprano and orchestra, a virtuosic setting of Psalm 150 reminiscent of Mozart's famous Exsultate Jubilate, and commissioned for the Sephardic community of Amsterdam ca. 1770. Both works will receive their U.S. premieres in Hoshanna!
Vocal soloists are international Yiddish operetta star Nell Snaidas and Metropolitan Opera National Council winner and local cantor Sheryl Heather Cohen. Joining them will be acclaimed Bach specialist David Newman on bass and the 30-voice Chamber Singers of Haverford and Bryn Mawr colleges.
Dr. Israel Adler, who discovered Elyon, Melits u- Mastin, is scheduled to speak about the social and religious contexts that gave rise to these extraordinary works one hour prior to each performance. Adler, founder of the Jewish Music Research Center at Jerusalem's Hebrew University, is the world's preeminent authority on the modern rediscovery of early Jewish musical culture. Tempesta di Mare has worked closely with Adler and the JMRC in preparing this program.
Hoshanna! is supported in part by The Philadelphia Music Project, an Artistic Initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts, administered by The University of the Arts, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Pennsylvania Humanities Council, and The University of Pennsylvania Department of Religious Studies. Tempesta di Mare is an Ensemble in Residence at Haverford College, thanks to the John B. Hurford Humanities Center.
The E-newsletter subscriber discount is only valid for tickets ordered by phone at 215.755.8776. Mention the NMAJH E-newsletter when ordering. The discount does not apply to already discounted senior and student tickets, to on-line orders, or at the door.
Ticket prices for the March 31 performance range from $10 to $35. It is free for students 8 - 18. The performance begins at 8:30 p.m. at Irvine Auditorium, 3401 Spruce Street. Dr. Adler's lecture, which precedes the performance, is $5, and the discount does not apply. The April 1 performance and Dr. Adler's lecture beforehand are both free. The performance takes place at 4 p.m. at Roberts Hall at Haverford College, 370 Lancaster Ave.
For more information about the performances visit www.tempestadimare.org.
___________________________________
Founded on April 10, 1896 by Rabbi Joseph Krauskopf , the National Farm School in Doylestown, Pa., was intended as a way to divert Jewish boys from urban to rural life. The school offered free tuition and room and board to needy students . Today, the school remains open as Delaware Valley College.
National Museum of American Jewish History
Independence Mall East
55 North 5th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106-2197
Tel: 215.923.3811 Fax: 215.923.0763
www.nmajh.org
Welcome to the electronic newsletter of the National Museum of American Jewish History. This newsletter is designed to keep you informed of exhibitions, programs and other activities of the NMAJH, the only Museum in the country exclusively presenting educational programs and experiences that preserve, explore and celebrate the history of the Jews in America.
___________________________________
1. ARTIFACTS ON VIEW AT MUSEUM EXHIBITION
That iconic Manischewitz afikomen that children will be searching for at Passover seders throughout the country was founded in Cincinnati by Lithuanian immigrant Rabbi Dov Behr Manischewitz. A reproduction of a Manischewitz matzah box (pictured) is one of many Passover artifacts on display in the Museum's current temporary exhibition, Forshpeis! A Taste of the Peter H. Schweitzer Collection of Jewish Americana.
The "Passover Seder" section demonstrates how traditions are passed through foods that have symbolic meaning and play roles in Jewish rituals. The section explains that Manischewitz began as a small bakery producing matzah and later expanded to produce the machine-made matzah that revolutionized the product. It wasn't until the 1950s that the company began producing canned and jarred foods such as gefilte fish and borscht that are also familiar to American Jews today.
The Forshpeis! exhibition reveals aspects of American Jewish life by looking at food in a range of settings, including in the kitchen and at the deli. Forshpeis! also explores, through the Schweitzer Collection, the role food played in helping immigrant Jews adjust to life in the United States and illustrates how Jewish foods, like American Jews themselves, have become a part of the American mainstream. Admission to the exhibition is free.
Forshpeis is Yiddish for appetizer.
To schedule a visit to the exhibition and Museum, call the Education Department at 215.923.5984 or email Johanna Moss. The Education Department webpage also has more information about Education Department programs and booking tours.
The Forshpeis! exhibition was made possible in part through the generous support of the Independence Foundation, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, and the Philadelphia Cultural Fund. The Museum receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
2. DON'T PASS OVER MUSEUM SHOP PASSOVER SALE
The 20 percent off sale on Passover items at the Museum Shop continues for the next two Sundays, March 25 and April 1. The Museum Shop, open from noon - 5 p.m., offers an array of holiday Judaica, from haggadot to seder plates. In addition, the Museum Shop is offering cookies and coffee for shoppers during the sale days.Passover revolves around the most elaborate home ritual of all Jewish holidays, the seder meal. Seders can be enhanced with ceremonial objects from the Museum Shop that blend ancient traditions with modern aesthetics and materials to invigorate and reinterpret the ancient Jewish heritage.
The Museum Shop carries more than 120 Passover objects, reflecting a wide variety of artists' styles. Visit the Museum Shop to browse the large assortment of items in all price ranges. For more information contact Eva Schlanger, or call the Museum Shop at 215.923.0262.
Proceeds from the Museum Shop support the National Museum of American Jewish History.
3. MUSEUM SPONSORS FILMS FEATURING NEW FILMMAKERS
Jewish Film Festival New Filmmakers Weekend Begins March 24
When director and filmmaker Kate Feiffer was asked by a rabbi six years ago if she was Jewish, she had no answer as she was a non-practicing Jew celebrating Christmas. Six years later, Kate answers the rabbi's question by exploring issues of religious and ethnic identity with heart and humor through the world premiere of Matzo & Mistletoe, one of four films being featured as part of the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival's New Filmmakers Weekend. The film will be shown Saturday, March 24, 8 p.m. and Sunday March 25, 2 p.m.
Following Matzo & Mitsletoe on Saturday is the Philadelphia premiere of Ethics on the Edges of Life. Directed by Andrew Perlmutter, this documentary film-in-progress explores how the professors and students of a university community address the 30-year-old issue of whether or not religiously motivated arguments are appropriate in public policy discussions.
Guests on the 24th include filmmaker Kate Feiffer, her father, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist and writer Jules Feiffer, and filmmaker Andrew Perlmutter.
The New Filmmakers Weekend continues on March 25 at 2 p.m. with the Italian film Drink to Forget. Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin and other dictators appear on the labels of wine bottles sold in Italy. This 40-minute film attempts to unravel the complex emotional, ethical and legal issues raised by the selling and buying of these images through interviews with the producers and buyers, legal experts, politicians, partisans and members of Italy's Jewish community. Following the film is the second showing of Matzo & Mistletoe.
Guests include filmmakers Kate Feiffer, Patrick Heeren and Carla Molino, and Jules Feiffer.
The New Filmmakers Weekend concludes Monday, March 26 at 7 p.m. with the Philadelphia premiere of Love Iranian-American Style directed by Tanaz Eshaghian.The film gives a humorous guided tour of America's status-obsessed Iranian Jewish community by following Tanaz, a hip New Yorker whose Iranian family attempts to marry her off now that she's reached the ancient age of 25.
Admission on March 24 is $12 and on March 25 and 26, $10. Tickets are half-price for senior adults and students.
All films will be shown at the Gershman Y, 401 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia.
Information about the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival of the Gershman Y can be found on its website. The Museum is a sponsor of the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival.
4. BAROQUE ORCHESTRA TO PREMIERE 18th CENTURY HEBREW WORKS
Pieces Composed for Jewish Communities in Italy and the Netherlands
The Museum and the Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra Tempesta di Mare (pictured) are offering a 10 percent discount to NMAJH E-newsletter subscribers for Hosanna! Hebrew Music of the High Baroque, featuring long-lost works for soloists, chorus and orchestra, being performed Saturday, March 31 in Philadelphia and Sunday, April 1 in Haverford.
The program brings together 50 artists performing eighteenth-century works composed in Hebrew in the styles of Vivaldi and Haydn for Jewish communities in Italy and the Netherlands.
The centerpiece of Hoshanna! is Elyon, Melits u-Mastin (God, Defender & Accuser), an anonymous Handel-style oratorio composed for the Italian Ashkenazi synagogue of Casale Monferrato in 1733 for celebrations that close the Jewish new year. Another featured work is G.C. Lidarti's Kol Haneshama for solo soprano and orchestra, a virtuosic setting of Psalm 150 reminiscent of Mozart's famous Exsultate Jubilate, and commissioned for the Sephardic community of Amsterdam ca. 1770. Both works will receive their U.S. premieres in Hoshanna!
Vocal soloists are international Yiddish operetta star Nell Snaidas and Metropolitan Opera National Council winner and local cantor Sheryl Heather Cohen. Joining them will be acclaimed Bach specialist David Newman on bass and the 30-voice Chamber Singers of Haverford and Bryn Mawr colleges.
Dr. Israel Adler, who discovered Elyon, Melits u- Mastin, is scheduled to speak about the social and religious contexts that gave rise to these extraordinary works one hour prior to each performance. Adler, founder of the Jewish Music Research Center at Jerusalem's Hebrew University, is the world's preeminent authority on the modern rediscovery of early Jewish musical culture. Tempesta di Mare has worked closely with Adler and the JMRC in preparing this program.
Hoshanna! is supported in part by The Philadelphia Music Project, an Artistic Initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts, administered by The University of the Arts, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Pennsylvania Humanities Council, and The University of Pennsylvania Department of Religious Studies. Tempesta di Mare is an Ensemble in Residence at Haverford College, thanks to the John B. Hurford Humanities Center.
The E-newsletter subscriber discount is only valid for tickets ordered by phone at 215.755.8776. Mention the NMAJH E-newsletter when ordering. The discount does not apply to already discounted senior and student tickets, to on-line orders, or at the door.
Ticket prices for the March 31 performance range from $10 to $35. It is free for students 8 - 18. The performance begins at 8:30 p.m. at Irvine Auditorium, 3401 Spruce Street. Dr. Adler's lecture, which precedes the performance, is $5, and the discount does not apply. The April 1 performance and Dr. Adler's lecture beforehand are both free. The performance takes place at 4 p.m. at Roberts Hall at Haverford College, 370 Lancaster Ave.
For more information about the performances visit www.tempestadimare.org.
___________________________________
Founded on April 10, 1896 by Rabbi Joseph Krauskopf , the National Farm School in Doylestown, Pa., was intended as a way to divert Jewish boys from urban to rural life. The school offered free tuition and room and board to needy students . Today, the school remains open as Delaware Valley College.
National Museum of American Jewish History
Independence Mall East
55 North 5th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106-2197
Tel: 215.923.3811 Fax: 215.923.0763
www.nmajh.org
posted by nmajh @ 3/22/2007 
