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350 YEARS of American Jewish Life See Page 6 Summer 2005 | Volume 1, Issue 3 THE MAGAZINE OF THE CENTER FOR JEWISH HISTORY 350 YEARS of American Jewish Life see page 6 Inside… From the Executive Director 2 Chairman’s Report 3 Editing America 4 A Talmudic Resurgence 5 At Home, in the World 6–9 First Community? 7 Center Newswire 10–11 The Berlin Holocaust Memorial 14 Development News 16 From the Executive Director Home page of Jews in America: Our Story (www.jewsinamerica.org) featuring an image from the archives of the Leo Baeck Institute. A new image from the web site’s gallery appears every time the page is reloaded. (courtesy Center for Jewish History and Leo Baeck Institute). Insets: Albert Einstein, 1946. (Photo by Paula Wright; courtesy Leo Baeck Institute); Front of a Rosh Hashanah portrait greeting card, New York, ca. 1889, (Photo by Ph. Hurwitz; courtesy YIVO); Members of a Sephardic youth group at a festive gathering, New York City, ca. 1949 (courtesy American Sephardi Federation). O n Memorial Day week- graph? Words can describe the record as we can. What, you Center partner’s vast resources, end, 2005, the New York Times past and exercise our imagina- may ask, does digitizing do? It the greatest collection of Dias- Magazine published a photo- tion, but encountering these expands the access to artifacts, pora Jewish historical artifacts graph of Charleston, South artifacts imparts something of particularly through the Inter- in the world. 2 Carolina, at the end of the Civil the past’s realness, reminding net, to almost anyone who What is happening today War. The city had been virtual- us that our history was once wishes to see them. And at the Center for Jewish Histo- ly destroyed, and that simple, someone else’s present. These although digitization does not ry is nothing short of a revolu- startling photograph taught old, sometimes faded relics, allow you to touch the real tion—surely an intellectual me more about Reconstruction these captivating visual object, the quality of digital one, but ultimately a social than all the books I had ever images, provide bridges images possible today is so and civic and perhaps political read about that troubled peri- between yesterday and today, exact and so powerful that it one as well. When people gain od in American history. bringing about a richer, more seems as if you were with the access to information, when Several weeks earlier I engaged historical understand- original itself. Sometimes, the public can read and inter- had been given a preview of ing. By exciting our emotions, truthfully, even better than pret for themselves without the Yeshiva University Muse- these artifacts encourage our being with the often fragile, mediation, more understand- um’s show, “Printing the Tal- intellects as well, and can lead crumbling original. ing and more mutual respect mud: From Bomberg to us to greater empathy and The Center began its will likely follow. A renais- Schottenstein,” in which I saw understanding. work by creating the web site sance ideal, this second major before my eyes the first print- This is why the digital www.jewsinamerica.org, using round of democratization of ed edition of the entire Talmud revolution that is now taking images from our five partner the “stuff” of the Jewish peo- from 1523. The original pages place is so significant. Until collections to tell a multimedia ple is bound to have profound were turned out for me (and recently, the most engaging story of grandeur and achieve- and as yet unknown implica- for you, hopefully, as well) to records of the past have been ment. We followed shortly tions and results. As the print- see their beauty and magnifi- available almost exclusively to thereafter by marking the ing of the Talmud brought new cent, defying words. A few scholars. Handling these anniversary of the end of WWII depth and breadth to the life weeks later, I entered the records damages them and by launching the web site of Jews in Europe and ulti- Great Hall at the Center to shortens their life span. So www.lettersfront.org, portray- mately around the world, so stand before the famous 1818 they have been carefully ing the glorious tale of the too this democratization of letter from Thomas Jefferson stored in climate-controlled 500,000 Russian Jews who the history of the Jewish peo- to Mordecai Manuel Noah chambers with access given served nobly and heroically in ple will likely lead to inspiring defending religious freedom. only to a select few. But now the victorious Red Army victo- results in the years to come. What is it that is so elec- the archival world, with the ry over the Nazis. By next fall, trifying about being in the Center for Jewish History in we plan to have added other presence of an original docu- the forefront, is seeking to web sites conveying to the ment, manuscript or photo- digitize as much of the visual public more and more of the Published by From the Center for Jewish History 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011 Chairman 212-294-8301 fax: 212-294-8302 www.cjh.org and www.jewsinamerica.org BOARD OF DIRECTORS PARTNER INSTITUTIONS ear Friends and Colleagues, Bruce Slovin, Chair American Jewish Historical Society D Joseph D. Becker, Vice Chair David Solomon, How to achieve an exemplary com- Kenneth J. Bialkin, Vice Chair Executive Director Erica Jesselson, Vice Chair memoration? This is a crucial American Sephardi Federation Joseph Greenberger, Secretary Esme M. Berg, Executive Director question for American Jews who Michael A. Bamberger are dedicated to understanding Norman Belmonte Leo Baeck Institute their remarkable heritage. It is even George Blumenthal Carol Kahn Strauss, FRED CHARLES Eva B. Cohn Executive Director more important for those of us who David Dangoor Yeshiva University Museum are committed to sharing that history with the general public and Henry L. Feingold Sylvia A. Herskowitz, Director Max Gitter to preserving that heritage for posterity. This year has been blessed Michael Jesselson YIVO Institute for Jewish Research with a confluence of anniversaries, and the Center for Jewish Histo- Sidney Lapidus Carl J. Rheins, Executive Director ry has demonstrated its unique and important place in the cultural Leon Levy ACADEMIC ADVISORY Theodore N. Mirvis and intellectual landscape in the way that it has celebrated them, COUNCIL Nancy T. Polevoy Elisheva Carlebach, Co-Chair achieving, we believe, exemplary commemorations. Robert Rifkind Queens College This summer is an especially exciting season at the Center, David Solomon Michael A. Meyer, Co-Chair which is hosting landmark exhibitions to commemorate the 350th BOARD OF OVERSEERS Hebrew Union College William A. Ackman anniversary of the first Jewish settlement in North America. To mark Stanley I. Batkin Robert Chazan this occasion, the Center’s five partners—the American Jewish His- Joseph D. Becker New York University torical Society, American Sephardi Federation with Sephardi House, Kenneth J. Bialkin Todd Endelman Tracey Berkowitz Leo Baeck Institute, Yeshiva University Museum, and YIVO Institute University of Michigan Leonard Blavatnik for Jewish Research—have all mounted extraordinary exhibitions George Blumenthal Henry L. Feingold celebrating the diversity and vibrancy of American Jewry. Arturo Constantiner Baruch College Mark Goldman The landmark exhibit at the Center, “Greetings from Home, David Fishman Joan L. Jacobson Jewish Theological Seminary 350 Years of American Jewish Life,” organized and presented by the Ira H. Jolles American Jewish Historical Society, in cooperation with the ASF and Harvey M. Krueger Ernest Frerichs 3 Sidney Lapidus Brown University YUM, is associated with the official activities of the congressionally Leon Levy Jane Gerber mandated Commission for Commemorating the 350th Anniversary of Ira A. Lipman Graduate Center of the City Jewish Settlers and explores the process by which Jews established Theodore N. Mirvis University of New York Joseph H. Reich a home for themselves in this new nation. Robert S. Rifkind Deborah Dash Moore We are also proud that coinciding with the 350th are two Stephen Rosenberg Vassar College anniversary exhibits of partner institutions. “YIVO at 80,” organ- Bernard Selz Riv-Ellen Prell Bruce Slovin ized by YIVO, highlights documents and photographs from its vast University of Minnesota Edward L. Steinberg archival collection and offers a fascinating look at Eastern Euro- Joseph S. Steinberg Lawrence H. Schiffman pean Jews as they established themselves in their new homeland; Michele Cohn Tocci New York University Fred S. Zeidman and “Starting Over: The Experience of German Jews in America, Jeffrey Shandler Roy Zuckerberg Rutgers University 1830-1945,” organized by the Leo Baeck Institute in conjunction Peter A. Geffen, with its 50th anniversary, chronicles the significant role German Executive Director Paul Shapiro United States Holocaust Jews played in shaping contemporary American intellectual and STAFF Memorial Museum cultural life. Ira Berkowitz, Visitors to the Center will also have an opportunity to view Chief Financial Officer Chava Weissler Lehigh University Yeshiva’s University Museum’s “Printing the Talmud: Bomberg to Sandra Rubin, Director of Development Beth S. Wenger Schottenstein,” a fascinating exploration of the study of the Talmud University of Pennsylvania Robert Friedman, from its development in ancient times to its current incarnation on Director, Genealogy Institute Steven J. Zipperstein the World Wide Web. Stanford University Michael Glickman, So how does one achieve an exemplary commemoration? This Director of Public Affairs Editor: Benjamin Soskis year at the Center for Jewish History is our answer to that question. Natalia Indrimi, Program Curator Managing Editor: Tamara Moscowitz It involves a deep engagement with the past that also insists on Tamara Moscowitz, looking toward the future. It requires seeing the past as alive and Director of Public Relations The Jewish Experience is made vital, and understanding our responsibilities to preserve and learn possible, in part, with a grant from Bob Sink, Chief Archivist and from it.
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