Jews of New Jersey – Dr. Michael Rockland – a slide presentation by Rutgers Professor Michael Rockland, the author of The Jews of New Jersey, A Pictorial History, which provided highlights of the texture of everyday life of New Jersey’s 460,000 Jews and their ancestors. Places included in The Jews of New Jersey are: Newark, Paterson, Trenton and Camden, Southern New Jersey farming communities, the Hasidic community in Morristown, the artist’s colony of Roosevelt in Monmouth County, beach towns such as Deal and Bradley Beach, New Brunswick/Highland Park, and postwar suburbs such as the Oranges, Cherry Hill, and Short Hills.
Roosevelt: A Utopian Experience in NJ – Arthur Shapiro – a lecture and slide presentation by Roosevelt Town Historian, Dr. Arthur Shapiro as he relates the fascinating story of this agricultural/ industrial cooperative community established for Jewish garment workers by the U.S. government in 1936. A small pictorial exhibit from Roosevelt. was displayed.
NJ Jewish Heritage Symposium – this event, hosted by the JMNJ, brought together Jewish professionals from throughout the state to discuss topics related to New Jersey’s Jewish history. Amy Waterman, the Executive Director of the, was the keynote speaker.
Civil Rights and Civil Unrest: Jews and Blacks in Conversation – organized by Rutgers Professor Max Herman in conjunction with the Rutgers Institute on Ethnicity, Culture, and the Modern Experience and the African American-Jewish Coalition. Two panel discussions explored the relationship of Jews and Blacks historically and within the City of Newark using the disorders of 1967 as a backdrop. Participants were: Dr. Clement Price, Dr. Williamd Helmreich, Linda Caldwell Epps, Kenneth Gibson, Samuel Convissor, Richard Kuperman, Morris Spielberg, and Junius Williams.
L’chaim: Celebrating the Highlights of 20th Century Jewish Life in New Jersey – our inaugural exhibit opened on Sunday, December 9th featuring special guest lecturer, Manfred Anson, a notable Judaica collector, who designed the Statue of Liberty Menorah.
This exhibit takes a closer look at the not so distant history of New Jersey’s Jewish community – the fourth largest in the United States. It presents an historical overview of the variety of Jewish experience throughout New Jersey. Paterson silk workers, farmers in Vineland, utopian settlers in Roosevelt, avant-garde artists at Rutgers, immigrants and entrepreneurs in the vibrant metropolis of Newark is featured along with more than two dozen fascinating and delightful stories and vintage photos of Jewish people and institutions in a groundbreaking exhibit that reflects the diversity of Jewish life in New Jersey over the course of the 20th Century.
The exhibit was curated by our museum consultant, Amy Stempler, who previously managed the I. Edward Kiev Judaica Collection at the Gellman Library of the The George Washington University, Washington, DC.
Jewish in Jersey:– a slide presentation created by Phil Yourish, our Vice President and former Executive Director, of famous Jewish individuals who were born, grew up, resided, or worked in New Jersey.