Jewish American Heritage Month May is nearly here and it will soon be time to celebrate. Visit the JAHM website where you will find wonderful resources for celebrating in your community:
- an interactive calendar of events and programs
- logos, posters, lesson plans for your use in classrooms and educational displays
- press releases, biographies of noted Jewish Americans, and much more!
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(Rendering of NMAJH exhibit) or visit us on the web at
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What We Do Through training of museum staff and volunteers, information exchange, and advocacy on behalf of Jewish museums, CAJM strengthens the Jewish-museum field in North America. |
If you let us know ...
... we'll let others know
(From Jews Rock! at the San Diego Center for Jewish Culture Gotthelf Art Gallery)
There's always something beautiful, meaningful, or eye-opening going on at Jewish museums. Be sure to share yourmuseum's news and events! |
CAJM means ... Jewish art and history museums, historic sites, historical and archival societies, Holocaust centers, children's museums, synagogue museums, community centers, and university galleries ... the professionals and volunteers who work in them ... the children, adults, and families who visit them ... the patrons who support them ... the organization that keeps them vital. |
Meet new colleagues & grow your skills: Become a Member _________________ Stay current: |
What You Will Find ... on CAJM's website:
What you can see at CAJM museums and galleries across the United States and Canada, news on colleagues' activities and accomplishments, a roster of Jewish museums around the world, a collections showcase featuring objects from the holdings of more than 85 member institutions, traveling exhibitions available for rental, a library and links to more than one hundred online resources ... and lots more reasons to visit, join and support Jewish museums. |
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Philly's in Our Future We are delighted to announce that CAJM's 2011 conference will be convened in Philadelphia, PA, providing an early opportunity to visit the spectacular new home of the National Museum of American Jewish History, our host institution. The conference will take place approximately one month later than has been our custom: from February 27-March 1, with a possible post-conference activity on Wednesday, March 2. Due to open in November, NMAJH's new building represents a $150 million campaign and has been designed by Polshek Partnership Architects, with exhibitions by Gallagher & Associates. The museum will occupy 100,000 square feet on five floors, just steps from Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. A distinguished team of historians, led by Brandeis University Professor of American Jewish History Jonathan Sarna, has worked collaboratively with staff on museum content and interpretation. Attendees will also visit an array of notable historical and cultural destinations throughout the city. Our other Philadelphia area CAJM member institutions, the Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art at Congregation Rodeph Shalom and the Temple Judea Museum at Congregation Keneseth Israel, are on the conference planning team. |
Steering the Conference Three outstanding CAJM colleagues are overseeing plans for the Philadelphia conference. Independent consultant Lynette Allen(who also co-chaired our successful Los Angeles conference this year) and Deborah Cardin, Director of Education at the Jewish Museum of Maryland, are serving as Co-Chairs. Josh Perelman, Deputy Director of Programming and Museum Historian at the National Museum of American Jewish History, is Host Chair. As the Founding Executive Director of the San Diego Center for Jewish Culture, Lynette Allen oversaw the development of a multi-disciplinary program that served as the impetus for the building of an arts and culture facility at the Lawrence Family JCC. She was Program Director for the Institute of Southern Jewish Life in its nascent years, and she remains active in the arts through involvement with the SDCJC, Art Council of San Diego State University, and the Steering Committee of CAJM. Deborah Cardin oversees all aspects of the JMM's educational programs serving adults, families, teachers, and more than 7,000 school children from across the state, and she served as exhibition curator for Cabin Fever! Jewish Camping and Jewish Commitment. She previously worked in museum education and visitor services at the Smart Museum in Chicago, the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, and Port Discovery, the Children's Museum in Baltimore. Josh Perelman is overseeing creation of the core exhibition for NMAJH's new home, as well as the education and public programming departments. With interests in the intersection of politics, the performing arts, and ethnic identity in the 20th century, he has taught at the University of Pennsylvania and at New York University, participated in the development of many exhibitions, and held leadership roles at the American Jewish Historical Society and with the State of Israel.
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CAJM on the Hill
In March, at the American Association of Museums' Museums Advocacy Day 2010, Laura Cohen Apelbaum, Director of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington and its Lillian & Albert Small Jewish Museum, had a chance to represent CAJM and help promote the cause of Jewish museums. Laura joined more than 200 museum directors, trustees, curators, staff, students, and volunteers from 40 different states, who partnered with 50 museum organizations and visited 220 Congressional offices. Apelbaum went to the offices of Washington, DC Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton and Colorado Congressman Ed Perlmutter. AAM's ambassadors highlighted the vital role that museums play in the education of students and lifelong learners, and all the ways that museums are partners, stewards of history and culture, and economic engines in their communities. CAJM is a member of AAM's Council of Affiliates, a cornerstone of AAM's advocacy efforts. CAJM members are encouraged to join this contingent in future years, and may wish to contact Ember Farber, AAM's Federal Policy Representative & Grassroots Manager. |
Joining Our Ranks Four organizations have recently become CAJM institutional members, reflecting the variety of our consortium. The Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills, "the nation's first freestanding museum dedicated to the memory of the Holocaust," receives 125,000 visitors a year at a building opened in 2004. The institution features state-of-the-art displays and explores European Jewish heritage and post-war life, as well as the Holocaust era. In Portland, ME, a museum of Maine Jewish history, art, and culture, the Tree of Life Museum, is being developed within the 1920s era Etz Chaim Synagogue on Munjoy Hill. The Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation, based in San Francisco, CA, develops and distributes educational materials about the 20,000-30,000 Jews who fought back against the Nazis, and brings the celebration of their heroic resistance against tyranny into educational and cultural organizations. And in Larchmont, NY, the Rabbi Irving & Marly Koslowe Judaica Gallery at Westchester Jewish Center presents revolving thematic exhibitions of fine art, folk art, and photography culled from contemporary artists, archival resources, and members' collections. The late Terri Trieger, the Gallery's long-time curator, felt strongly that the arts space, like others of its kind, "knit the congregation together."
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Jewish Museum London Reopens
After a �10 million(approximately $20 million) redevelopment, ribbons were cut in March at the new Jewish Museum London, which had been closed since 2007. This major institution in Camden Town, northwest London, celebrates Jewish life, history and cultural diversity in the country. According to Director Rickie Burman (who is also current chair of the Association of European Jewish Museums), "What it means to be British and the issue of cultural identity has never been more hotly debated ... We hope our ground-breaking new displays will inspire people to take a stand against racism and build interfaith understanding and connections." The museum has now tripled in scale and scope. Features include a multimedia welcoming gallery, a Jewish history gallery, a Holocaust gallery, interactive exhibits that look at the Jewish life cycle, and rare items of Judaica, such as silver Torah scrolls made by George III's silversmith. Visitors can smell chicken soup cooking in a recreated kitchen, play Yiddish Karaoke, and see a medieval mikveh dating from 1270, discovered in the city of London in 2001. |
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