The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History (The Weitzman) is a Smithsonian-affiliated museum at 101 South Independence Mall East (S. 5th Street) at Market Street in Center City

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

. It was founded in 1976.

History

With its founding in 1976, the then– museum shared a building with the

Congregation Mikveh Israel Congregation Mikveh Israel ( he, קהל קדוש מקוה ישראל), "Holy Community Hope of Israel", is a synagogue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that traces its history to 1740. Mikveh Israel is a Spanish and Portuguese synagogue that follow ...

. In 2005, it was announced that the museum would be moved to a new building to be built at Fifth Street and Market Street on the Independence Mall. The site was originally owned by CBS' KYW radio and

KYW-TV KYW-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside CW affiliate WPSG (channel ...

. The project broke ground on September 30, 2007. The glass and

terra-cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

building was designed by

James Polshek James Stewart Polshek (February 11, 1930September 9, 2022) was an American architect based in New York City. He was the founder of Polshek Partnership, the firm at which he was the principal design partner for more than four decades. He worked ...

and includes an atrium, a area for exhibits, a Center for Jewish Education, and a theater. The structural engineer was Leslie E. Robertson Associates. The project, including endowment, cost $150 million. The opening ceremony was held November 14, 2010 and was attended by over 1,000 people, including Vice President Joe Biden, Mayor Michael Nutter, Governor

Ed Rendell Edward Gene Rendell (; born January 5, 1944) is an American lawyer, prosecutor, politician, and author. He served as the 45th Governor of Pennsylvania from 2003 to 2011, as chair of the national Democratic Party, and as the 96th Mayor of Philad ...

, and Rabbi Irving Greenberg. The building opened to the public November 26, 2010. In 2012, Ivy Barsky was appointed as the CEO of the museum and she served until 2019. During her tenure the

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

1790 letter was given on permanent loan. In March 2020, the museum closed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and staff wages were reduced. In May the museum furloughed two thirds of its staff without pay. The acting CEO was Misha Galperin who had taken over when Barsby resigned the year before. The staff were not entitled to some benefits because of the museum being in chapter 19 protection. In March 2020, The National Museum of American Jewish History filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whet ...

, seeking relief from debt incurred by the construction of its Independence Mall home. The museum's debts included over $30 million to bondholders, and an additional $500,000 to unsecured creditors; at the time of the bankruptcy filing, the museum was paying 20% of its annual budget in interest payments. The filing followed several years of decreasing attendance, revenue, and fundraising. The museum's operations were not affected by the bankruptcy. The museum exited bankruptcy in September 2021 after several creditors forgave $14 million in debt and board member Mitchell Morgan purchased the museum building for $10 million. In August 2020, following the signing ceremony for the

Great American Outdoors Act The Great American Outdoors Act (H.R. 1957) is a piece of legislation passed by the United States Congress, signed by President Donald J. Trump, and activated into Public Law (Public Law No. 116-152) in 2020. It has two major components: fully an ...

in which

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

mispronounced the name of

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ...

as "yo-semites", the museum's online gift shop experienced a surge in sales for a pre-existing, similarly phrased "Yo Semite"

T-shirt A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt), or tee, is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a '' crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shirts are genera ...

. Sales of the shirt, which brought in $30,000 in the three days following Trump's statement and led to continued sales thereafter, provided unexpected international publicity and required financial assistance to the museum. In November of 2021, it was announced that the museum would be renamed in honor of a generous contribution from

Stuart Weitzman Stuart A. Weitzman (born 1941) is an American shoe designer, entrepreneur, philatelist, and founder of the shoe company Stuart Weitzman. Weitzman has designed footwear for Beyoncé and Taylor Swift. Career In the late 1950s, Weitzman's father, ...

. The museum is now known as The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History.

Exhibitions

Exhibits use pieces from the museum's collection which includes over 30,000 objects and ranges from the Colonial period to the present day. Exhibits have focused on the lives and experiences of Jews in America, with past exhibitions centering on

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg ( ; ; March 15, 1933September 18, 2020) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death in 2020. She was nominated by Presiden ...

and

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...

. Professor Jonathan Sarna of

Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , p ...

led the development of the core exhibit for the museum.

To Bigotry No Sanction: George Washington and Religious Freedom

In 2012, The Weitzman (then NMAJH) held a special exhibition that featured one of the most important documents pertaining to religious freedom in the United States. The letter was written in 1790 to the Hebrew Congregation in

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...

, addressing the new country's religious freedom. George Washington's letter expressed the new government's commitment for religious freedom and equality for all faiths. The exhibition included numerous artifacts as well as early printings of the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of th ...

and the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...

Hall of Fame and Gallery

Established in 2010, the National Museum of American Jewish History Hall of Fame and a related permanent exhibition gallery honors the lives of prominent Jewish Americans. The initial class of eighteen inductees was chosen both by a public vote and a panel of historians and experts. Inductees were elected in one of eight categories. In its opening year, the exhibit contained a film about the inductees’ lives and artifacts, including

Sandy Koufax Sanford Koufax (; born Sanford Braun; December 30, 1935) is an American former left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played his entire career for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers from 1955 to 1966. He has been hailed as one of t ...

’s baseball mitt and sheet music from

Irving Berlin Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin; yi, ישראל ביילין; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-American composer, songwriter and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Born in Imperial Russ ...

. The exhibition was renamed the

Ed Snider Edward Malcolm Snider (January 6, 1933 – April 11, 2016) was an American business executive. He was the chairman of Comcast Spectacor, a Philadelphia-based sports and entertainment company that owns the Philadelphia Flyers of the National H ...

'Only in America' Gallery and Hall of Fame in honor of the former chairman of

Comcast Spectacor Comcast Spectacor is a Philadelphia-based American sports and entertainment company. It owns the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, the Maine Mariners of the ECHL, the Philadelphia Wings of the National Lacrosse League, the P ...

From the Core Exhibition in 2010

File:Hanukkah lamp from Lodz, Poland, prior to 1881, silver, National Museum of American Jewish History.JPG, Hanukkah lamp from Lodz, Poland, prior to 1881, silver File:Hanukkah menorah, Russia, 1890, brass, National Museum of American Jewish History.JPG, Hanukkah menorah, Russia, 1890, brass File:Kiddush cup from Russia, engraved sterling silver, National Museum of American Jewish History.JPG, Kiddush cup from Russia, engraved sterling silver File:Portrait of Joyce Mears Myers by Edward Green Malbone, c. 1803, oil on ivory.JPG, Portrait of Joyce Mears Myers by Edward Green Malbone, c. 1803, oil on ivory. No longer on view. File:Silver menorah, William Gale and Sons, c. 1852, National Museum of American Jewish History.JPG, Silver menorah, William Gale and Sons, c. 1852 File:Torah finials, c. 1850, silver, National Museum of American Jewish History.jpg, Torah finials, c. 1850, silver File:Tzedakah (charity) box, Charleston, 1820, silver, National Museum of American Jewish History.JPG, Tzedakah (charity) box or Kupat Tzedakah, Charleston, 1820, silver

References

External links

* {{Authority control Ethnic museums in Pennsylvania History museums in Pennsylvania Jewish-American history Jewish history organizations Jewish museums in the United States Jews and Judaism in Philadelphia Museums established in 1976 Museums in Philadelphia 1976 establishments in Pennsylvania Old City, Philadelphia