Jewish Heritage- Living Memorial to the Holocaust

This posting is 1 of 3 (see photos only in 2 of 3 and 3 of 3)
https://mjhnyc.org/

Friday morning began with us having breakfast with Olivia Shlansky, Manager of Community Building at Central Synagogue. We brainstormed together about Central Synagogue’s Neighborhood and we provided lots of feedback and ideas for the future. It was a very pleasant way to start the day and we got to try out our first Greek Bakery, The Bakery Room (right next to Central at 122 E. 55th).

Next, we went downtown The Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. Of course, it is impossible to go anywhere in NYC without finding interesting history. When we got down to the Battery Park (original fortress for protection of NYC by colonists), we saw the site of the old Produce Exchange from 1907, the Brookyln Battery Tunnel monument (longest tunnel in its time), the Terminal building for ships with the original First and Cabin Class entrances at 1 Broadway, Castle Clinton Memorial from 1812 and where immigrants were processed, the Yiddish Theater Building, of course the Statue of Liberty Island and Ellis Island in the distance.

We have remained members for a few years but never have had the opportunity to visit for most of a full day, as we did today. Because it was a Friday, it was almost empty, giving us as much time as we wanted in front of exhibits we wanted to read. The Museum (since 1997) is committed to the crucial mission of educating diverse visitors about Jewish life before, during, and since the Holocaust. In addition to the original 30,000 square feet of exhibition galleries (there was an expansion 20 years ago for another 70,000 sq feet), the Museum has a permanent collection of more than 45,000 artifacts, photographs, and survivor testimonies, The Garden of Stones, a memorial art installation, The Peter & Mary Kalikow Jewish Genealogy Resource Center, and JewishGen, the largest Jewish Genealogy database in the world.

The Museum’s artifacts, explanation of exhibits for all backgrounds and religions, and flow made it very easy to get an appreciation for the history that many of us know as well as the information that was new to us (or forgot). We were there for 6+ hours (only left to get to Central Synagogue Services on time). In addition to photographing some key “milestones” and points in history by including pictures of these markers, we have included some of the highlights for us (not at all due to their importance or in any order).

Some of the markers were: Jewish Soldiers in WWI, Socialism & Zionist Movement, Pograms and Immigration, the rise of Antisemitism, Some artifacts that mae it to NY including prayer books, challah covers, an incredible story of a Purim Megillah that made it here, a Kettubah (marriage license), Passover, the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.

The next footprint (2 of 2) focused on the Nazi regime time and those terrible years along with some of the heroes of those days, the ability to rebuild a Jewish World after this time and the Birth of Israel. We also walked through a temporary exhibition on the Danish Heroic Efforts during these times.

The last posting (3 of 3) focused on the neighborhood around the Museum, sculptures, the Hannah Szenes story, meaningful story of Rabbi David Max Eichhorn and the liberation in May 1945 as well as some “bizarre findings” including a posting in an American Boycott magazine of supporters of the Nazi efforts and the post Holocaust Nuremberg Trials. Lastly, we viewed a wonderful photography exhibit by Judith Goldstein of her discoveries regarding the Danish efforts.Read more