The earliest Jewish Sunday schools were female-led, growing from one school in Philadelphia established by Rebecca Gratz in 1838 to an entire system that educated vast numbers of Jewish youth across the country. These schools were modeled on Christian approaches to religious education and aimed to protect Jewish children from Protestant missionaries. But debates soon swirled around the so-called sorry state of "feminized" American Jewish supplemental learning, and the schools were taken over by men within one generation of their creation. It is commonly assumed that the critiques were accurate and that the early Jewish Sunday school was too feminized, saccharine, and dependent on Christian paradigms. 

In Jewish Sunday Schools, Laura Yares traces the development of these schools from their inception through the first decade of the twentieth century and shows that this was not the reality. In addition, Yares argues that the work of the women who shepherded Jewish education in the early Jewish Sunday school had ramifications far outside the classroom. Indeed, we cannot understand the nineteenth-century American Jewish experience, and how American Judaism sought to sustain itself in an overwhelmingly Protestant context, without looking closely at the development of these precursors to Hebrew School.

Karmela Waldman is an eighty-something psychotherapist and Holocaust survivor. Her son, Joel Waldman, is a successful broadcast journalist. After a discontented Joel chooses to leave his network news job, he gets a crazy idea for the next step in his career: what if he and his elderly mother did a podcast together? Things get off to a bumpy start as the mother-son duo struggle to figure out the art of podcasting, but they master the format and watch as the show becomes a wildly popular true-crime hit. 

Along the way, the two discover things about each other they never knew. Joel is stunned to learn that Karmela survived World War II by hiding in a boys' Catholic school. Karmela also sheds light on the emotional struggles she endured when Joel's older brother died and how she's struggling with the loss of her husband. Mother and son engage frankly and movingly with each other for the first time as adults, discussing child-rearing, aging, illness, death, and the secrets to enjoying life no matter how complicated it gets.

Joel and Karmela will be in conversation about Joel's book Surviving the Survivor: A Brutally Honest Conversation about Life (& Death) with My Mom: A Holocaust Survivor, Therapist & My Podcast Co-Host. Moderated by Jim Axelrod, CBS News Senior Correspondent.

Karmela Waldman is an eighty-something psychotherapist and Holocaust survivor. Her son, Joel Waldman, is a successful broadcast journalist. After a discontented Joel chooses to leave his network news job, he gets a crazy idea for the next step in his career: what if he and his elderly mother did a podcast together? Things get off to a bumpy start as the mother-son duo struggle to figure out the art of podcasting, but they master the format and watch as the show becomes a wildly popular true-crime hit. 

Along the way, the two discover things about each other they never knew. Joel is stunned to learn that Karmela survived World War II by hiding in a boys' Catholic school. Karmela also sheds light on the emotional struggles she endured when Joel's older brother died and how she's struggling with the loss of her husband. Mother and son engage frankly and movingly with each other for the first time as adults, discussing child-rearing, aging, illness, death, and the secrets to enjoying life no matter how complicated it gets.

Joel and Karmela will be in conversation about Joel's book Surviving the Survivor: A Brutally Honest Conversation about Life (& Death) with My Mom: A Holocaust Survivor, Therapist & My Podcast Co-Host. Moderated by Jim Axelrod, CBS News Senior Correspondent.

In the middle of the twentieth century, good cameras became smaller and lighter, enabling street photographers to roam alleyways, ride elevated trains and subways, and stroll beaches in the summertime to capture daily life with urgency and intimacy. Deborah Dash Moore's book Walkers in the City showcases the distinct urban vision that working-class Jewish photographers produced with these new cameras on New York City's streets and in public spaces.

Drawing on the experiences of and photographs by a generation of young Jewish photographers who belonged to the New York Photo League, Moore offers a new perspective on New York as seen through their eyes - a cityscape of working-class people and democratizing public transit. With their cameras, they pictured Gotham's abrasive social milieu and its evanescent textures and light, creating an archive of vernacular images of city life and a distinctive tradition of street photography that would be widely imitated.

Moore will be in conversation about her book with Diana L. Linden, author of Ben Shahn's New Deal Murals: Jewish Identity in the American Scene.

In Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray explores the Jewish experience in medieval Spain from the dawn of Sephardic society in the ninth century to the expulsion of 1492. An important contribution of the book is the integration of the rise and fall of Jewish life in Muslim al-Andalus into the history of the Jews in medieval Christian Spain. It traces the collapse of Jewish life in Muslim Spain, the emigration of Andalusi Jewry to the lands of Christian Iberia, and the long and difficult confluence of these two distinct Jewish subcultures.

Focusing on internal developments of Jewish society, the book offers a narrative of Jewish history from the inside out, bringing to light the various divisions and rivalries within the Jewish community. This approach, in turn, allows for a deeper understanding of the complex relations between Spanish Jews and their Muslim and Christian neighbors. Ray's original perspective on the Jewish experience is particularly instructive when considering the widescale anti-Jewish riots of 1391. The combination of violence and mass conversion of the Jews irrevocably shifted the dynamics of interreligious relations as well as those within the Jewish community itself. Yet even in the wake of these tragic events, the Jews of Spain continued to flourish, fostering a culture that they would carry into exile and that would preserve the memory of Jewish Spain for centuries to come.

Visitors have access to all exhibitions in the Museum at any time during opening hours. Click here to see all exhibitions on view.

Museum Members

Sign in at the top right corner of this page. If you do not already have an online account with us, please create an account using your member email.​ Your Member discounts will be reflected in your cart at checkout.
 
Not a member? Join today or email membership@mjhnyc.org for assistance.
 
COVID-19 Safety Guidelines: Please review our Health and Safety page before planning your visit for more information on our visitation guidelines.

We provide free admission to Holocaust Survivors, active members of the military, first responders, and NYC DOE K-12 students. If this applies to you, please contact us at 646-437-4202 to schedule your visit. 

We also accept the Sightseeing Pass and the Go City Pass, please bring your pass to the Museum for free admission.

The fates of lesbian women in Nazi Germany have long been contested. When the Memorial to Homosexuals Persecuted Under Nazism opened in Berlin in 2008 it was an occasion for protest. Lesbian activists were frustrated that the monument focused exclusively on the fates of gay men, insinuating that women had not also faced persecution. This talk by Samuel Clowes Huneke, assistant professor of history at George Mason University, recounts several life stories of lesbians who experienced the Nazi dictatorship, highlighting the many trajectories that queer women followed in those twelve years. It argues that lesbians did, in fact, face persecution, ranging from everyday harassment and surveillance all the way to imprisonment in concentration camps. At the same time, the talk recovers these women’s agency, contending that many of them resisted fascism with solidarity that cut across lines of class, race, and gender. 

Discover the vibrant culture of Jewish Budapest on this livestreamed, virtual walking tour. Our guide will bring us through the heart of the historic Jewish quarter of Pest - one of the city center's most intriguing areas. We'll see Europe's largest synagogue, the magnificient Dohány Street Synagogue, and explore the history of Pest's Jewish community. We'll learn about the community's origins, why congregations separated, and the differences between Neolog and Orthodox Jews. You'll be fascinated by the rich heritage of this thriving community, which is currently 100,000 strong. Co-presented with Wowzitude.

Antisemitism flourished in early twentieth-century America. The Great Wave of Immigration from 1881 to 1914 brought 2.2 million eastern European Jews to America, fleeing persecution and seeking opportunity. They were often met with suspicion, and even violence. One such person who is emblematic of the antisemitism of this time is Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company. In 1918, Ford purchased a newspaper, The Dearborn Independent, where he published antisemitic articles that would later become four volumes titled The International Jew. Based on The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which described an international ruling conspiracy, the article series alleged that such a conspiracy was infiltrating America. These articles ran from 1920 to 1924, reaching hundreds of thousands of readers and legitimizing ideas that otherwise may have remained on the fringe.

Join the Museum for a panel discussion about Henry Ford's antisemitism and its wide-ranging effects with Hasia R. Diner, Professor Emerita in the Departments of History and the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University; Steven Watts, author of The People's Tycoon: Henry Ford and the American Century; and Victoria Woeste, author of Henry Ford's War on Jews and the Legal Battles Against Hate Speech. They will be in conversation with Britt Tevis, Rene Plessner Postdoctoral Fellow in Holocaust and Antisemitism Studies at Columbia University.

Welcome to Henry Altman’s St. Louis den, 1986, where he reveals extraordinary adventures of survival during the WWII Holocaust. He navigated the Warsaw ghetto, escaped Treblinka death-camps twice, joined the Resistance, blew up trains, and played cat-and-mouse with the SS. Fearing these stories would die with Henry, his son, Murray Changar, along with partner and performer Frank Blocker, created this touching, verbatim solo play directed by Jamibeth Margolis, herself a granddaughter of survivors. It offers hope and humor, and a much-needed historical perspective, while keeping audiences on the edge of their seats. But Henry doesn’t see himself as good. No one survives war by being good.

Explore the rich history of the Jewish community of Prague dating back to the tenth century in this livestreamed, virtual walking tour. Our guide will show us the Spanish Syngogue, the Maisel Synagogue, the Pinkas Synagogue, and the oldest synagogue still in use in Europe, the Old New Synagogue. Hear inspiring stories of persistence, rescue, and the impact of World War II, from the Terezin Ghetto to the spectacular Petschka Palace. Co-presented with Wowzitude. 

Immerse yourself in the rich culture and history of Krakow's Jewish community during the renowned Jewish Culture Festival. On this livestreamed, virtual walking tour, we will explore the vibrant Kazimierz district, the heart of the city's Jewish community and the festival's venue. Our guide will show us the beauty of historic synagogues including the Remuh Synagogue and the Old Synagogue, and delve into the stories and traditions that have shaped Krakow's Jewish community. Enjoy the lively atmosphere of Ulica Szeroka, the main street of Kazimierz, and discover the hidden gems of Jewish culture and art. Co-presented with Wowzitude. 

Selfhelp Community Services, UJA-Federation of New York, Yeshivah of Flatbush Joel Braverman High School and the Museum of Jewish Heritage, A Living Memorial to the Holocaust present:

Witness Theater: WE ARE HERE

This unique performance is the culmination of seven months of heartfelt collaboration between five Holocaust survivors and sixteen students. It honors and shares the survivors’ stories, celebrates these extraordinary individuals, and highlights the life-changing lessons they have imparted to the students. The performance is created based on the stories told by the Holocaust survivors to the high school students. On the stage, the survivors will be narrators while students will re-enact their wartime experiences.

We hope you will join us as we bear witness.

Selfhelp Community Services, UJA-Federation of New York, Yeshivah of Flatbush Joel Braverman High School and the Museum of Jewish Heritage, A Living Memorial to the Holocaust present:

Witness Theater: WE ARE HERE

This unique performance is the culmination of seven months of heartfelt collaboration between five Holocaust survivors and sixteen students. It honors and shares the survivors’ stories, celebrates these extraordinary individuals, and highlights the life-changing lessons they have imparted to the students. The performance is created based on the stories told by the Holocaust survivors to the high school students. On the stage, the survivors will be narrators while students will re-enact their wartime experiences.

We hope you will join us as we bear witness.

In The Art of Diplomacy: How American Negotiators Reached Historic Agreements that Changed the World, diplomat and negotiator Stuart E. Eizenstat recounts America's most significant and consequential negotiations over the past fifty years. Eizenstat discusses the events that led up to the negotiations, the drama that took place around the table, and draws lessons from successful and unsuccessful strategies and tactics. Based around interviews with over 60 key figures in American diplomacy, including former presidents and secretaries of state, and major political figures abroad, he provides an intimate view of diplomacy as today's history. 

Stuart E. Eizenstat has served as U.S. Ambassador to the European Union and Deputy Secretary of both Treasury and State. He is also the author of President Carter: The White House Years; The Future of the Jews: How Global Forces are Impacting the Jewish People, Israel, and Its Relationship with the United States; and Imperfect Justice: Looted Assets, Slave Labor, and the Unfinished Business of World War II. He is an international lawyer in Washington D.C.

In this exclusive program for members, take a closer look at Courage to Act: Rescue in Denmark in an exclusive tour of the exhibition. The tour will be led by the exhibition's curator, Ellen Bari.