January 20, 2008
Enews January 2008
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.
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VISITORS GIVE MUSEUM FEEDBACK
Visitors Find Meaning In Shaping Space, Making Meaning
"Religion can be kept alive through action," wrote a recent Museum visitor from Palo Alto, Calif., in response to the question, "Is intermarriage a significant threat to religious communities" asked in the Museum's new changing exhibition. The visitor went on to say that, "If someone marries outside of their faith and stops practicing, that is their own fault. If a person marries within their faith and stops practicing, that is no different."
The question about intermarriage and others like it about issues being debated in the American Jewish community are at the root of the exhibition Shaping Space, Making Meaning.
The exhibition offers visitors the opportunity to learn how a museum creates a major exhibition and at the same time allows them to offer feedback through interactive experiences to the design team working on the new Museum.
One section of the exhibition, "Drawing the Line: A Contemporary Issues Forum," asks such questions as: Should the U.S. always support Israel's policies? Is it fair for rabbinical seminaries to refuse to ordain gay and lesbian rabbis? Does intermarriage represent the triumph of American pluralism?
Other interactive elements in the exhibition are touch screens to engage visitors in a conversation about the Museum's major themes of freedom, immigration, and religious tolerance, and a short quiz to help the Museum learn about its audiences' knowledge of American Jewish history.
The answers to questions in the exhibition give the NMAJH's exhibition design team a sense of the opinions among visitors, and show if there are certain trends that can be discerned. In addition to the interactive elements, Shaping Space, Making Meaning has design sketches, computer-generated images, video and text that offer an insider's look at the process of developing a landmark exhibition about more than 350 years of American Jewish life.
The NMAJH's exhibition design team is in the process of creating the 22,000-square-foot exhibition for the new Museum under construction and scheduled to open in 2010.
MUSEUM BRANCHING OUT WITH OFFER
Tu B'Shevat Related Items For Sale
The Museum Shop carries a variety of nature and tree related items, such as the pictured copper and brass candle holder by Infinity Art in Metal, which are perfect gifts for the Jewish New Year for Trees, Tu B'Shevat, which takes place on January 22.
Artist George Gabriel Q. designs each piece, which is then handcrafted and autographed. The metal used is melted together to create artwork symbolizing infinity - bonding the human, the divine and the spirit.
This candle holder is one of a variety of Tu B'Shevat related items being sold at the Museum Shop and at its online store.
The Museum Shop carries Judaica from a variety of artists. Visit the Museum Shop to browse the large assortment of items in all price ranges. For more information contact Museum Shop Managers Eva Schlanger, or Elaine Silverman, or call the Museum Shop at 215.923.0262.
The Museum Shop is open Mondays-Thursdays 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Fridays 10 a.m.-3 p.m., and Sundays 12 noon - 5 p.m. Proceeds from the Museum Shop support the National Museum of American Jewish History.
MUSEUM SPONSORS FESTIVAL FILMS
Oscar Nominated Film First In Line
Three films sponsored by the Museum are being screened this month as part of the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival.
The first film, Two Hands, makes its Philadelphia premiere on January 27 at 7 p.m. as part of the festival's Music Weekend. Nathaniel Kahn's inspirational documentary reveals the obstacles encountered by renowned concert pianist Leon Fleisher, when he lost the ability to play with his right hand. Hailed as one of the 10 most gifted musicians in America, Fleisher drove his right hand into extreme focal dystonia during his intensive preparation for a recording of Johannes Brahms's "B Flat Concerto." In Two Hands, Kahn tells this story via extended interviews with Fleisher, archival concert footage and vintage photographs.
Two Hands was nominated for the Best Short Documentary Oscar in 2007.
Immediately following the showing of Two Hands is the second film being sponsored by the NMAJH, Beethoven's Hair, a 17-minute long docudrama tracing the unlikely places where a lock of Beethoven's hair, taken from his deathbed, ends up. This film takes the audience on a musical tour, wandering from romantic 19th century Vienna, to the Holocaust, to kitschy Americana, and a forensic scientist's revelation of Beethoven's mysterious "medical secret." A lush Beethoven score complements the rich production.
Filmmaker Kahn will be the guest speaker following these two films.
The third Museum-sponsored film, Stealing Klimt, part of the festival's Documentaries and Dialogue series making its Philadelphia debut, chronicles the struggle of 90-year-old Maria Altmann to recover five Gustav Klimt paintings that were stolen from her family by the Nazis in Vienna.
The film shows the early days in fin-de-siecle Vienna, Maria's escape from Nazi terror and a winning fight to regain the seized works, taken all the way to the US Supreme Court. The glorious "golden" portrait of Maria's aunt Adele was sold for $135 million to Ronald Lauder and now hangs in his New York City museum, the Neue Gallery.
Dr. Jonathan Steinberg, Walter H. Annenberg professor of modern European history at the University of Pennsylvania, will be the guest speaker.
Admission is $10. Seniors and students with ID receive $3 off the single ticket price.
For more information on this or other films in the series call 215.466.3033 or visit the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival's website.
All films will be shown at the Gershman Y, 401 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia.
The Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival screens some of the most acclaimed feature films and documentaries of the year, by some of the finest filmmakers from around the world, including Brazil, Israel, France, Germany, Mexico and the USA.
The Museum sponsors festival films that explore the American Jewish experience.
ANNUAL PRESIDENTS' DAY CELEBRATION TO BE HELD AT NMAJH FEB. 18
Washington Letter To Be Read
The Museum will be celebrating George Washington's birthday and Presidents' Day during its annual free program taking place Monday, Feb. 18, noon at Museum.
The celebration highlights religious liberty and features the reading by a re-enactor of the letter President Washington sent to Philadelphia's Congregation Mikveh Israel, and congregations in Charleston, New York and Richmond in 1790, after they wrote to congratulate him following his inauguration. In his reply Washington wrote, "The liberality of sentiment towards each other, which marks every political and religious denomination of men in this Country, stands unparalleled in the history of nations."
Invited to participate as they have in past years are the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry, music by the Fifes and Drums of the Delaware Militia, and re-enactors from the 11th Pennsylvania Regiment. The Rev. Timothy Safford, of Christ Church, where George Washington worshipped, will deliver the invocation.
The program is co-sponsored by Congregation Mikveh Israel, which shares its location with the Museum.
Cherry pie, donated by Philadelphia's Tasty Baking Company, will be served after the program.
___________________________________
On February 3, 1943, Rabbi Alexander D. Goode (b. 1911), a 1937 graduate of the Hebrew Union College, died when his ship, the USS Dorchester, is sunk in battle. Rabbi Goode and three Christian chaplains died together while joining arms in prayer after giving their life vests to other soldiers. Their heroism was commemorated in many ways, including the issuance of a U.S. postage stamp.
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.
___________________________________
VISITORS GIVE MUSEUM FEEDBACK
Visitors Find Meaning In Shaping Space, Making Meaning
The question about intermarriage and others like it about issues being debated in the American Jewish community are at the root of the exhibition Shaping Space, Making Meaning.
The exhibition offers visitors the opportunity to learn how a museum creates a major exhibition and at the same time allows them to offer feedback through interactive experiences to the design team working on the new Museum.
One section of the exhibition, "Drawing the Line: A Contemporary Issues Forum," asks such questions as: Should the U.S. always support Israel's policies? Is it fair for rabbinical seminaries to refuse to ordain gay and lesbian rabbis? Does intermarriage represent the triumph of American pluralism?
Other interactive elements in the exhibition are touch screens to engage visitors in a conversation about the Museum's major themes of freedom, immigration, and religious tolerance, and a short quiz to help the Museum learn about its audiences' knowledge of American Jewish history.
The answers to questions in the exhibition give the NMAJH's exhibition design team a sense of the opinions among visitors, and show if there are certain trends that can be discerned. In addition to the interactive elements, Shaping Space, Making Meaning has design sketches, computer-generated images, video and text that offer an insider's look at the process of developing a landmark exhibition about more than 350 years of American Jewish life.
The NMAJH's exhibition design team is in the process of creating the 22,000-square-foot exhibition for the new Museum under construction and scheduled to open in 2010.
MUSEUM BRANCHING OUT WITH OFFER
Tu B'Shevat Related Items For Sale
The Museum Shop carries a variety of nature and tree related items, such as the pictured copper and brass candle holder by Infinity Art in Metal, which are perfect gifts for the Jewish New Year for Trees, Tu B'Shevat, which takes place on January 22.
Artist George Gabriel Q. designs each piece, which is then handcrafted and autographed. The metal used is melted together to create artwork symbolizing infinity - bonding the human, the divine and the spirit.
This candle holder is one of a variety of Tu B'Shevat related items being sold at the Museum Shop and at its online store.
The Museum Shop carries Judaica from a variety of artists. Visit the Museum Shop to browse the large assortment of items in all price ranges. For more information contact Museum Shop Managers Eva Schlanger, or Elaine Silverman, or call the Museum Shop at 215.923.0262.
The Museum Shop is open Mondays-Thursdays 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Fridays 10 a.m.-3 p.m., and Sundays 12 noon - 5 p.m. Proceeds from the Museum Shop support the National Museum of American Jewish History.
MUSEUM SPONSORS FESTIVAL FILMS
Oscar Nominated Film First In Line
Three films sponsored by the Museum are being screened this month as part of the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival.The first film, Two Hands, makes its Philadelphia premiere on January 27 at 7 p.m. as part of the festival's Music Weekend. Nathaniel Kahn's inspirational documentary reveals the obstacles encountered by renowned concert pianist Leon Fleisher, when he lost the ability to play with his right hand. Hailed as one of the 10 most gifted musicians in America, Fleisher drove his right hand into extreme focal dystonia during his intensive preparation for a recording of Johannes Brahms's "B Flat Concerto." In Two Hands, Kahn tells this story via extended interviews with Fleisher, archival concert footage and vintage photographs.
Two Hands was nominated for the Best Short Documentary Oscar in 2007.
Immediately following the showing of Two Hands is the second film being sponsored by the NMAJH, Beethoven's Hair, a 17-minute long docudrama tracing the unlikely places where a lock of Beethoven's hair, taken from his deathbed, ends up. This film takes the audience on a musical tour, wandering from romantic 19th century Vienna, to the Holocaust, to kitschy Americana, and a forensic scientist's revelation of Beethoven's mysterious "medical secret." A lush Beethoven score complements the rich production.
Filmmaker Kahn will be the guest speaker following these two films.
The third Museum-sponsored film, Stealing Klimt, part of the festival's Documentaries and Dialogue series making its Philadelphia debut, chronicles the struggle of 90-year-old Maria Altmann to recover five Gustav Klimt paintings that were stolen from her family by the Nazis in Vienna.
The film shows the early days in fin-de-siecle Vienna, Maria's escape from Nazi terror and a winning fight to regain the seized works, taken all the way to the US Supreme Court. The glorious "golden" portrait of Maria's aunt Adele was sold for $135 million to Ronald Lauder and now hangs in his New York City museum, the Neue Gallery.
Dr. Jonathan Steinberg, Walter H. Annenberg professor of modern European history at the University of Pennsylvania, will be the guest speaker.
Admission is $10. Seniors and students with ID receive $3 off the single ticket price.
For more information on this or other films in the series call 215.466.3033 or visit the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival's website.
All films will be shown at the Gershman Y, 401 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia.
The Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival screens some of the most acclaimed feature films and documentaries of the year, by some of the finest filmmakers from around the world, including Brazil, Israel, France, Germany, Mexico and the USA.
The Museum sponsors festival films that explore the American Jewish experience.
ANNUAL PRESIDENTS' DAY CELEBRATION TO BE HELD AT NMAJH FEB. 18
Washington Letter To Be Read
The Museum will be celebrating George Washington's birthday and Presidents' Day during its annual free program taking place Monday, Feb. 18, noon at Museum.
The celebration highlights religious liberty and features the reading by a re-enactor of the letter President Washington sent to Philadelphia's Congregation Mikveh Israel, and congregations in Charleston, New York and Richmond in 1790, after they wrote to congratulate him following his inauguration. In his reply Washington wrote, "The liberality of sentiment towards each other, which marks every political and religious denomination of men in this Country, stands unparalleled in the history of nations."
Invited to participate as they have in past years are the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry, music by the Fifes and Drums of the Delaware Militia, and re-enactors from the 11th Pennsylvania Regiment. The Rev. Timothy Safford, of Christ Church, where George Washington worshipped, will deliver the invocation.
The program is co-sponsored by Congregation Mikveh Israel, which shares its location with the Museum.
Cherry pie, donated by Philadelphia's Tasty Baking Company, will be served after the program.
___________________________________
On February 3, 1943, Rabbi Alexander D. Goode (b. 1911), a 1937 graduate of the Hebrew Union College, died when his ship, the USS Dorchester, is sunk in battle. Rabbi Goode and three Christian chaplains died together while joining arms in prayer after giving their life vests to other soldiers. Their heroism was commemorated in many ways, including the issuance of a U.S. postage stamp.
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 @ 1/20/2008 
