Last week, I visited the Center For Jewish Culture in Manhattan along with a fellow classmate. The museum is made up of various exhibitions that were created with the help of their several partners, which include the American Sephardi Federation, the Leo Baeck Institute and the Yeshiva University Museum. Unfortunately, at the time of my visit the museum was undergoing renovations, resulting in a large part of the center being inaccessible, however there was still plenty for me to see.
I personally don’t attend museums very often, not because I have anything against them, I just rarely get the opportunity. So when I arrived at the Center For Jewish Culture, I wasn’t exactly sure of what to expect. What I found was really interesting. When I first walked in, out of nowhere, I felt a sudden and unexpected sense of pride. Being that I am Jewish, I stood in the lobby, realizing that this museum represents who I am, it is for me. It’s not very often that I get to experience that feeling of pride and respect, and it felt good. This museum, and in particular, certain exhibits within it, was able to unearth emotions in me that I rarely get to see, by turning the experience into something personal.
I am a Sephardic Jew that comes from a very tight-knit community, where religion, tradition and heritage are all considered very important. In 1492, King Ferdinand of Spain declared an edict expelling all of the Jews from Spain. Fearing for their lives, the Jews of Spain immediately dispersed to all corners of the world including countries such as Morocco, Turkey and France, with my family ending up in Aleppo, Syria. That is where they remained until the early 20th century, when they came here to New York in search of work along with many other members of my community.
On the second floor of the museum, there were many mini-exhibitions containing artifacts on display by their various partners. However, there was one exhibition that I found myself gravitating towards immediately, the Exhibit of the American Sephardi Federation. When I spotted this exhibit, the feelings that I had been having since I arrived were only intensified. Looking through the exhibit I saw names of my relatives and friends, old artifacts from the days of my grandparents and more. If I had to describe the reaction that I was experiencing, I would have to compare it to the feeling you get by seeing a friend or someone you personally know on TV or in the newspaper.
The exhibit that I was focused on was about an American Sephardic Leader named Reverend Dr. David de Sola Pool. It highlighted Dr. Pool’s interactions with various Jewish leaders around he world. One of these interactions, a letter, specifically stood out to me. This letter from May of 1935 was a correspondence between Dr. Pool and Rabbi Saul Kassin of Magen David Congregation on 67th Street in Brooklyn. The significance here is that this congregation is the same place where my grandparents attended their Jewish services. And if you look really close at the list of members on the side of the letter, you can even see the names of some of my relatives.
Similarly, I noticed another letter from a different exhibit that was written to Dr. Pool by a Mr. Isaac Shalom. Mr. Shalom was one of my community’s largest benefactors and leaders, and even helped found my elementary school, Magen David Yeshivah Isaac Shalom Elementary School. What was even more interesting to me was the actual content of the letter. Mr. Shalom invited Dr. Pool to come visit one of his organizations in Morocco and told him to contact a Mr. Joseph Shamah to make arrangements. My grandmother was originally a Shamah and when I asked her if she knew this man, she told me that we are related.
As I moved from exhibit to exhibit, I was amazed with how personal the experience was to me. Seeing the names of my relatives, reading a letters written 78 years ago by the Chief Rabbi of my own community, I was surprising to say the least. I’ve never seen anything like that before in a public museum. I truly got satisfaction from knowing that my grandparents do have, no matter how small, a tangible presence in history. It was this closeness to home and intimacy of the experience that really made my visit to the museum a remarkable one.
Though I spent the large majority of my time at the exhibit on Sephardic Jews above, there was also another exhibit dedicated to the Jewish athletes in professional sports that I enjoyed. It included really interesting information on some of history’s greatest Jewish players including Sandy Koufax and Hank Greenberg. Also included, were sports memorabilia from some of these players that must have been worth tens of thousands of dollars. I felt that this exhibit provided a needed break from the seriousness and formality of the other exhibits with something a little more entertaining.
While the Center For Jewish Culture is relatively small in comparison to some of the other museums of Manhattan, it is nevertheless a place that has earned my recommendation. Although to some of you it may lack the personal aspect that I experienced, the museum makes up for it with its wide variety of exhibitions on Jewish Culture, many of which I didn’t even get the chance to cover. I would definitely love to take another visit to the center once their main floor exhibition is reopened to the public.
