January 13, 2010
Enews January 2010
Founding Member Honors Servicemen
Shortly after his marriage in 1952, it was off to Camp Breckinridge in Kentucky for Ronald Feldman, where the recently drafted Brooklyn native was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division. Soon after, he was transferred to a military police unit in Camp Gordon, Georgia, but he never forgot his time with the "Screaming Eagles."
So, when he and his wife, Phyllis, recently became Founding Members of the Museum, their gift was made in recognition of "All Members of the 101st Airborne Division." "I thought they should be recognized," said the retired speech pathologist now living in Boynton Beach, Fla. "The soldiers fought valiantly on D-Day and at the Battle of the Bulge and helped liberate Holocaust survivors." (The 101st Airborne Division was recognized as a liberating unit by the U.S. Army's Center of Military History and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1998.) Continuing, Feldman said, "We want to support the Museum because of its role preserving Jewish heritage. That's extremely important." The Feldmans have joined more than 3,300 people from across the country who have recently joined the Founding Membership Campaign of the Museum.
Founding Members support what will be an iconic institution on Independence Mall as well as a leading national education and cultural center. The Museum will explore the promise and challenge of liberty through the lens of the American Jewish experience, and its programs will include unique exhibitions, lecture series and films, as well as online initiatives, distance learning and outreach programs for students of all ages across the country. Founding Memberships may be purchased with a gift of $54.
Founding Members will be invited to participate in the Museum's opening celebrations and to visit the NMAJH for free whenever they choose, throughout the membership term. Founding Members also have the opportunity to make their donations in honor of or in memory of others, and their names will be permanently listed in the Museum along with other Jewish Americans who have played important roles in shaping the history of this country. The new Museum is scheduled to open in November 2010.
Visit the Museum's website for information on becoming a Founding Member and about the benefits provided at each level of donation, or call the Development Office at 215.923.3811 x 104. For information on ways to participate in the Museum's Capital Campaign, contact Irv Hurwitz, the Museum's director of institutional advancement, at 215.923.3811 x 133.
Museum Gallery Walls Taking Shape
Artifacts Help Bathe Exhibition In Details
By 1897 Jews owned more than half of New York's 62 public bathhouses that social reformers established to prevent the spread of disease and ill health in congested living conditions in tenement neighborhoods. A 1902 survey found that only eight percent of New York's Jewish families had access to a private bath, further testifying to the need for communal bathing places in Jewish neighborhoods.
The NMAJH ink blotter seen above advertises one such bathhouse at the "Foot Of E. 5th Street." It will be on display in the Museum as part of the "Streetscape" exhibit in the third floor "Dreams of Freedom" gallery.
Spanning the 1880s through the 1940s, "Streetscape" will explore the social history of immigrant Jewish life, immersing visitors in the sights and sounds of the streets, life at home, and work. Five breakout galleries branching off from the "Streetscape" will illustrate specific aspects of immigrant Jewish life including, "Home," "Becoming American," "Education, Adult and Children's," "Work," and "Settlement and Resettlement in Rural America."
The Museum is currently seeking artifacts to expand its collection of Jewish Americana. The premise of NMAJH collecting is that history affects all people and that everyone has valuable stories to tell. The collection's geographic focus is national, and the Museum holds artifacts which date from the Colonial period to the present day from all areas of the United States. The wide variety of artifacts in the collection vividly evokes the diversity of the American Jewish experience.
If you have an object you would like the Museum to consider for donation, please contact Rebecca Levine, the Museum's associate registrar, at rlevine@nmajh.org or at 215.923.3811 x 138.
Celebrate The New Year With The Jewish Blessing For New Experiences
The Museum Shop brings in the new year with Judaica perfect for life's new beginnings such as the framed Traditional Shehechiyanu blessing (pictured below) by artist Mickie Klugman-Caspi.
The Shehechiyanu blessing is for all new or special experiences. It is a prayer of thanks to God for sustaining our lives and makes a wonderful gift for any and all special occasions.
Klugman-Caspi is an Israeli-American artist and calligrapher who has been specializing in Judaica since 1980. Among the many sources that inspire Klugman-Caspi's delicate watercolor designs are traditional Jewish motifs, contemporary graphics, as well as art nouveau and art deco. An avid gardener, she loves to incorporate the beauty of nature into much of her artwork.
The Museum Shop carries Judaica from a variety of artists in an array of styles. Visit the Museum Shop to browse the large assortment of items in all price ranges.
Shop in person or browse items online at www.judaicashop.net. For more information e-mail Eva Schlanger or Elaine Silverman, or call the Museum Shop at 215.923.0262.
The Museum Shop will be closed Mondays and Tuesdays in January and February, but will be open during Museum hours on all other days: Wednesdays-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 Gallery Walls Taking Shape The curved wall and others on the fourth floor will house artifacts in the "Innovation and Expansion" gallery that will chronicle the experiences of Jewish immigrants who arrived during the first-half of the nineteenth century.
Beginning in 1820, America experienced a new wave of immigration that brought 10 million people to the new nation's shores. Among those were more than 200,000 Jews from territories now part of Germany, Austria, Poland and the Czech Republic. Their presence increased the Jewish population of the United States one-hundred fold and ushered the Jewish community into a new stage of development.
"What types of people migrated, what drove them across the ocean, and what they did when they arrived to the United States? How was the experience of Jewish immigrants different or similar to others? How did the dramatic increase of the American Jewish population affect Jewish identity? This gallery depicts why people moved, how they got here, the lives they made upon arrival, how they survived economically and how they lived, or did not live, as Jews," said Dr. Josh Perelman, the Museum's deputy director of programming and historian and chief curator for the core exhibition. "It represents an important opportunity for the museum to highlight how men, women, and children made treacherous journeys, created communities, and negotiated identities." The new Museum is scheduled to open in November of 2010. For an up-to-date picture of the construction site that refreshes every 15 minutes, view our Museum-Cam. To see additional photos of the Museum's construction like those above, click here.
Museum Sponsors Festival Films With American Jewish Stories
Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival Continues
Once again, the Museum is supporting the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival by sponsoring movies that explore the American Jewish experience. The films are being shown as part of the festival's "Documentaries and Dialogue" series and begin Jan. 11.
The first film that the Museum is sponsoring, "Inheritance," is the story of the offspring of a villainous Nazi perpetrator who feels the sins of her father so strongly that she seeks out one of his victims. Monika Hertwig's father was Amon Goeth, the inspiration for Ralph Feinnes' character in "Schindler's List." Hertwig succeeds in finding and interviewing Helen Jonas-Rozensweig, who was one of Goeth's slaves when he was the commandant of the Plaszow concentration camp in Poland.
The screening will take place Monday, Jan. 18, 7:00 p.m. Speaking after the screening will be Marcia Sachs Littell, professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.
The "Documentaries and Dialogue" series continues with a special "Hollywoodism! Double Feature." "Shadows in Paradise: Hitler's exiles in Hollywood" is the first of two films to be shown the evening of Monday, Feb. 1 at 7 p.m.
Director Peter Rosen tells the story of the European Jewish intellectuals, artists, musician, and writers who fled the Nazis and moved to Southern California in the 1930s and 40s. The film looks into the American experience of people like Lion Feuchtwanger, Bertolt Brecht, Thomas Mann, Fritz Lang, Bruno Walter, and Arnold Schoenberg.
The night continues with the Philadelphia premiere of "The Brothers Warner." Directed by Cass Warner, Harry Warner's granddaughter, this film is the true life rags-to-riches story of four ambitious brothers who changed Hollywood. The night's guest speaker will be Jonathan Friedman, director of Holocaust and Genocide Studies and professor of history at West Chester University.
All films will be shown at the Gershman Y, 401 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia. Look for additional information about films in the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival in the next E-Newsletter.
Currently in its 29th season, The Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival (PJFF) is the second oldest Jewish Film Festival in the United States. It 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. To purchase tickets to either showing please visit the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival website.
Video On Museum Design In Exhibition
Visitors to the NMAJH can listen in as Senior Designer Jamie Rains and Creative Director Cybelle Jones of Gallagher & Associates, the Museum's exhibition design firm, discuss plans and ideas for exhibition spaces in the new Museum now being built.
"I think it's about the relevance today. I would love it if every person would leave [the new Museum] knowing that the NMAJH cares what [visitors] are passionate about," says Jones in the video found in the Museum's changing exhibition, "Shaping Space, Making Meaning."
The video, "Designing An Exhibition for the NMAJH's New Home" (pictured above), was created for "Shaping Space, Making Meaning," which gives an insider's look at the process of developing a landmark exhibition about more than 350 years of American Jewish life.
Admission is free to "Shaping Space, Making Meaning," which also has design sketches, computer-generated images, and interactive elements designed to get visitor feedback.
The NMAJH's exhibition design team is in the process of creating the 22,000-square-foot exhibition for the new Museum
Museum Offers Tickets To January 31 One-Man Jewish Comedy Show
The National Museum of American Jewish History is teaming up with the Keswick Theatre to provide three E-Newsletter subscribers with a pair of tickets to the performance of "Elon Gold Half Jewish. Half Very Jewish." on Sunday, Jan. 31, 7:00 p.m. Gold's show is a personal, off-beat and comedic take on Judaism that will dispel negative stereotypes while reinforcing many other positive ones.
Hailed as "a comedy star on the rise" by the "Boston Herald," the young actor/comedian has gained momentum with his widely-acclaimed one-man show and has appeared on numerous TV shows such as "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" and "The Chappelle Show" and has had starring roles on several sitcoms.
The first three subscribers to e-mail jcorsilli@keswicktheatre.com will receive tickets to the show. Tickets to the show are available at www.keswicktheatre.com, by calling the box office at 215.572.7650, or At Ticketmaster outlets. Tickets are $37.50, $29.50 and $25. Discounted group rates are available.
Shortly after his marriage in 1952, it was off to Camp Breckinridge in Kentucky for Ronald Feldman, where the recently drafted Brooklyn native was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division. Soon after, he was transferred to a military police unit in Camp Gordon, Georgia, but he never forgot his time with the "Screaming Eagles."
So, when he and his wife, Phyllis, recently became Founding Members of the Museum, their gift was made in recognition of "All Members of the 101st Airborne Division." "I thought they should be recognized," said the retired speech pathologist now living in Boynton Beach, Fla. "The soldiers fought valiantly on D-Day and at the Battle of the Bulge and helped liberate Holocaust survivors." (The 101st Airborne Division was recognized as a liberating unit by the U.S. Army's Center of Military History and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1998.) Continuing, Feldman said, "We want to support the Museum because of its role preserving Jewish heritage. That's extremely important." The Feldmans have joined more than 3,300 people from across the country who have recently joined the Founding Membership Campaign of the Museum.Founding Members support what will be an iconic institution on Independence Mall as well as a leading national education and cultural center. The Museum will explore the promise and challenge of liberty through the lens of the American Jewish experience, and its programs will include unique exhibitions, lecture series and films, as well as online initiatives, distance learning and outreach programs for students of all ages across the country. Founding Memberships may be purchased with a gift of $54.
Founding Members will be invited to participate in the Museum's opening celebrations and to visit the NMAJH for free whenever they choose, throughout the membership term. Founding Members also have the opportunity to make their donations in honor of or in memory of others, and their names will be permanently listed in the Museum along with other Jewish Americans who have played important roles in shaping the history of this country. The new Museum is scheduled to open in November 2010.
Visit the Museum's website for information on becoming a Founding Member and about the benefits provided at each level of donation, or call the Development Office at 215.923.3811 x 104. For information on ways to participate in the Museum's Capital Campaign, contact Irv Hurwitz, the Museum's director of institutional advancement, at 215.923.3811 x 133.
Museum Gallery Walls Taking Shape
Artifacts Help Bathe Exhibition In Details
By 1897 Jews owned more than half of New York's 62 public bathhouses that social reformers established to prevent the spread of disease and ill health in congested living conditions in tenement neighborhoods. A 1902 survey found that only eight percent of New York's Jewish families had access to a private bath, further testifying to the need for communal bathing places in Jewish neighborhoods.
The NMAJH ink blotter seen above advertises one such bathhouse at the "Foot Of E. 5th Street." It will be on display in the Museum as part of the "Streetscape" exhibit in the third floor "Dreams of Freedom" gallery.
Spanning the 1880s through the 1940s, "Streetscape" will explore the social history of immigrant Jewish life, immersing visitors in the sights and sounds of the streets, life at home, and work. Five breakout galleries branching off from the "Streetscape" will illustrate specific aspects of immigrant Jewish life including, "Home," "Becoming American," "Education, Adult and Children's," "Work," and "Settlement and Resettlement in Rural America."
The Museum is currently seeking artifacts to expand its collection of Jewish Americana. The premise of NMAJH collecting is that history affects all people and that everyone has valuable stories to tell. The collection's geographic focus is national, and the Museum holds artifacts which date from the Colonial period to the present day from all areas of the United States. The wide variety of artifacts in the collection vividly evokes the diversity of the American Jewish experience.
If you have an object you would like the Museum to consider for donation, please contact Rebecca Levine, the Museum's associate registrar, at rlevine@nmajh.org or at 215.923.3811 x 138.
Celebrate The New Year With The Jewish Blessing For New Experiences
The Museum Shop brings in the new year with Judaica perfect for life's new beginnings such as the framed Traditional Shehechiyanu blessing (pictured below) by artist Mickie Klugman-Caspi.
The Shehechiyanu blessing is for all new or special experiences. It is a prayer of thanks to God for sustaining our lives and makes a wonderful gift for any and all special occasions.Klugman-Caspi is an Israeli-American artist and calligrapher who has been specializing in Judaica since 1980. Among the many sources that inspire Klugman-Caspi's delicate watercolor designs are traditional Jewish motifs, contemporary graphics, as well as art nouveau and art deco. An avid gardener, she loves to incorporate the beauty of nature into much of her artwork.
The Museum Shop carries Judaica from a variety of artists in an array of styles. Visit the Museum Shop to browse the large assortment of items in all price ranges.
Shop in person or browse items online at www.judaicashop.net. For more information e-mail Eva Schlanger or Elaine Silverman, or call the Museum Shop at 215.923.0262.
The Museum Shop will be closed Mondays and Tuesdays in January and February, but will be open during Museum hours on all other days: Wednesdays-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 Gallery Walls Taking Shape
The undulating wall (pictured) on the new Museum's fourth floor is yet more tangible evidence of the inexorable completion of the new building and core exhibition 
scheduled to open in November 2010.
In addition, the glass box encasing the west façade is almost complete and the installation of the terra cotta panels on the north and west sides of the building will continue.
scheduled to open in November 2010.In addition, the glass box encasing the west façade is almost complete and the installation of the terra cotta panels on the north and west sides of the building will continue.
Beginning in 1820, America experienced a new wave of immigration that brought 10 million people to the new nation's shores. Among those were more than 200,000 Jews from territories now part of Germany, Austria, Poland and the Czech Republic. Their presence increased the Jewish population of the United States one-hundred fold and ushered the Jewish community into a new stage of development.
"What types of people migrated, what drove them across the ocean, and what they did when they arrived to the United States? How was the experience of Jewish immigrants different or similar to others? How did the dramatic increase of the American Jewish population affect Jewish identity? This gallery depicts why people moved, how they got here, the lives they made upon arrival, how they survived economically and how they lived, or did not live, as Jews," said Dr. Josh Perelman, the Museum's deputy director of programming and historian and chief curator for the core exhibition.
Museum Sponsors Festival Films With American Jewish Stories
Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival Continues
Once again, the Museum is supporting the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival by sponsoring movies that explore the American Jewish experience. The films are being shown as part of the festival's "Documentaries and Dialogue" series and begin Jan. 11.
The first film that the Museum is sponsoring, "Inheritance," is the story of the offspring of a villainous Nazi perpetrator who feels the sins of her father so strongly that she seeks out one of his victims. Monika Hertwig's father was Amon Goeth, the inspiration for Ralph Feinnes' character in "Schindler's List." Hertwig succeeds in finding and interviewing Helen Jonas-Rozensweig, who was one of Goeth's slaves when he was the commandant of the Plaszow concentration camp in Poland.The screening will take place Monday, Jan. 18, 7:00 p.m. Speaking after the screening will be Marcia Sachs Littell, professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.
The "Documentaries and Dialogue" series continues with a special "Hollywoodism! Double Feature." "Shadows in Paradise: Hitler's exiles in Hollywood" is the first of two films to be shown the evening of Monday, Feb. 1 at 7 p.m.
Director Peter Rosen tells the story of the European Jewish intellectuals, artists, musician, and writers who fled the Nazis and moved to Southern California in the 1930s and 40s. The film looks into the American experience of people like Lion Feuchtwanger, Bertolt Brecht, Thomas Mann, Fritz Lang, Bruno Walter, and Arnold Schoenberg.
The night continues with the Philadelphia premiere of "The Brothers Warner." Directed by Cass Warner, Harry Warner's granddaughter, this film is the true life rags-to-riches story of four ambitious brothers who changed Hollywood. The night's guest speaker will be Jonathan Friedman, director of Holocaust and Genocide Studies and professor of history at West Chester University.
All films will be shown at the Gershman Y, 401 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia. Look for additional information about films in the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival in the next E-Newsletter.
Currently in its 29th season, The Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival (PJFF) is the second oldest Jewish Film Festival in the United States. It 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. To purchase tickets to either showing please visit the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival website.
Video On Museum Design In Exhibition
Visitors to the NMAJH can listen in as Senior Designer Jamie Rains and Creative Director Cybelle Jones of Gallagher & Associates, the Museum's exhibition design firm, discuss plans and ideas for exhibition spaces in the new Museum now being built.
"I think it's about the relevance today. I would love it if every person would leave [the new Museum] knowing that the NMAJH cares what [visitors] are passionate about," says Jones in the video found in the Museum's changing exhibition, "Shaping Space, Making Meaning."
The video, "Designing An Exhibition for the NMAJH's New Home" (pictured above), was created for "Shaping Space, Making Meaning," which gives an insider's look at the process of developing a landmark exhibition about more than 350 years of American Jewish life.
Admission is free to "Shaping Space, Making Meaning," which also has design sketches, computer-generated images, and interactive elements designed to get visitor feedback.
The NMAJH's exhibition design team is in the process of creating the 22,000-square-foot exhibition for the new Museum
Museum Offers Tickets To January 31 One-Man Jewish Comedy Show
The National Museum of American Jewish History is teaming up with the Keswick Theatre to provide three E-Newsletter subscribers with a pair of tickets to the performance of "Elon Gold Half Jewish. Half Very Jewish." on Sunday, Jan. 31, 7:00 p.m. Gold's show is a personal, off-beat and comedic take on Judaism that will dispel negative stereotypes while reinforcing many other positive ones.Hailed as "a comedy star on the rise" by the "Boston Herald," the young actor/comedian has gained momentum with his widely-acclaimed one-man show and has appeared on numerous TV shows such as "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" and "The Chappelle Show" and has had starring roles on several sitcoms.
The first three subscribers to e-mail jcorsilli@keswicktheatre.com will receive tickets to the show. Tickets to the show are available at www.keswicktheatre.com, by calling the box office at 215.572.7650, or At Ticketmaster outlets. Tickets are $37.50, $29.50 and $25. Discounted group rates are available.
posted by nmajh @ 1/13/2010 
