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NMAJH Leads Jewish American Heritage Month
L OCA L
SOPHIE PANZER | JE STAFF
MAY IS JEWISH American
Heritage Month, and the
National Museum of American
Jewish History is enmeshed in
the nationwide annual educa-
tion project it began to lead
in 2018.

“We joke that every month
is Jewish American Heritage
Month at the museum,” said
Emily August, director of
communications and public
engagement. CEO Misha Galperin said
the origins of JAHM date to
2006, when U.S. Rep. Deborah
Wasserman Schultz of Florida
and Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen
Specter introduced a resolution
urging President George W.

Bush to proclaim a month that
would recognize the more than
350-year history of Jewish contri-
butions to American culture.

The resolutions passed
unanimously, first in the
House of Representatives in
December 2005 and later in the
Senate in February 2006. Bush
embraced the idea, and every
sitting president since Bush has
also signed on to the project,
including President Joe Biden.

A group of cultural
and history organizations,
including the Library of
Congress, National Gallery
of Art, National Park Service
Ed Snider Only in America Gallery/Hall of Fame
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and United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum, collab-
orated to form the Jewish
American Heritage Month
coalition. The institutions
created museum exhibits,
art galleries,
classroom teaching materials and online
videos and photo collections
dedicated to telling the story of
Jews in the United States. There
was also an annual congres-
sional celebration in honor of
the month.

In 2018, NMAJH assumed
leadership of the event and
the various programming
it entailed. When Galperin
became CEO in 2019, he was
taken with the idea and felt
JAHM was not as well-known
as it deserved to be.

He and his staff began
brainstorming ways to help
the month fulfill its purpose:
educating the public about
Jewish contributions to the
United States and expressing
gratitude for the opportunities
that the nation has given Jews.

In May 2020, less than two
months after museums closed
to the public due to COVID-
19, NMAJH began creating
an entirely virtual JAHM
programming schedule. The
theme chosen was “Crisis and
Resilience,” and many of the
events featured prominent
Jewish American historians
giving lectures about historic
Photo by David Rosenblum
moments of crisis and
answering questions from
their online audiences. Topics
included the Civil War, the
1918 influenza pandemic and
the Great Depression.

Galperin said
digital marketing and partnerships with
50 other institutions allowed
NMAJH to reach approximately
400,000 people virtually.

This year, the museum
wants to build on that success
by expanding its number of
partners, especially among
organizations outside the
Jewish community. August
said the number of partners is
between 75 and 80, a significant
increase from last year. For the
first time, organizations besides
museums and cultural institu-
tions, including corporations
and government entities, started
to reach out to express interest
in incorporating JAHM into
diversity, equity and inclusion
training. This year’s theme is a quote
from first century sage Rabbi
Hillel: “If I’m not for myself,
who am I, and if I’m only for
myself, What am I? And if not
now, when?”
Galperin said the quote
addresses issues that the
Jewish community needs to
address, including preserving
heritage and combating rising
antisemitism, as well as the
history of Jews of color and
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Support Groups
Specially Designed for Families and
Caregivers on Zoom
The 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the Month
May 11 and May 25, 2021
10:00 am - 11:00 am
Joining is easy!
Call 215.321.6166 or e-mail Yardley@arden-courts.com
to register and receive the link to join the support
group. Statue of Liberty Menorah
Courtesy of Emily August
Jewish solidarity with multiple
communities in the face of
national reckonings on racial
injustice. “We embrace the Jewish
community in all its diversity,”
Galperin said. “We’re trying
to bring in as many diff erent
stories and people, whether
they be Ashkenazi, Sephardi,
Mizrahi, Jews of color, diff erent
denominations or levels of
religious observance.”
Th e kickoff event will be a
multi-day screening begin-
ning on May 8 of fi lmmaker
Martin Doblmeier’s documen-
tary “Spiritual Audacity: Th e
Abraham Joshua Heschel Story,”
which focuses on the titular
character’s leadership during
the civil rights movement, the
Vietnam War and the movement
to free Soviet Jews.

Other events will include
a virtual discussion among
members of the Congressional
Caucus on Black-Jewish
Relations about the importance
of America’s Black and Jewish
communities coming together
to combat hate and an all-night
virtual Shavuot festival.

Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, the
fi rst ordained Asian American
rabbi in North America, will
speak in honor of the intersec-
tion between JAHM and Asian
American Pacific Islander
Heritage Month, which also
takes place in May.

NMAJH’s partner organi-
zations have provided online
resources for perusal, from the
Th eatre Schmooze Podcast by
the Alliance for Jewish Th eatre
to reading lists from the
Jewish Book Council to online
exhibits from regional Jewish
museums across the country.

August said NMAJH will
organize a nomination and
voting process for the Ed Snider
Only in America Gallery/Hall of
Fame Hometown Hero Contest.

Participants will be able to
nominate and vote for people
in their communities with
outstanding records of service,
and one winner will be inducted
into the hall later this year.

“Just reading the news over
the past year, you read stories
of incredible individuals who
have taken the initiative to help
their communities,” August
said. “It’s a way to celebrate
the ongoing, everyday contri-
butions of Jews in America.” ●
You do not need to download the Zoom application
to join the event.

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