MAJOR JEWISH EVENTS AT THE MUSEUM OF JEWISH HERITAGE

By Ari D. Geller, Public Relations Manager, Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust.

36 Battery Place, New York, NY  10280. P. 646.437.4339 - F. 646.437.4341 - ageller@mjhnyc.org

Sunday, October 2, 11 A.M. - 1:30 P.M. Family Holiday Celebration featuring Singer/Guitarist Shira Kline Presented with the Jewish Community Project of Lower Manhattan (JCP) Join us for a family holiday celebration. Experience the fall holidays of Rosh Hashanah (New Year), Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), Sukkot (The Harvest Festival), and Simchat Torah (Rejoicing in Torah) through music and art - featuring a sing-along with Shira Kline and her band. Make memories with us as we look forward to 5766 and remember the joys of the past year. Create meaningful, new, holiday traditions for your family. Craft activities including a make your own shofar workshop for all ages and a sukkah building project for tweens and teens. Private gallery tours available. Light lunch included. $10 per person/$25 per family/free for Museum family-level members For more information call 646.437.4202 or email info@jcpdowntown.org. Advance reservations recommended

Sunday, October 16, 2:30 P.M. FILM & DISCUSSION Sister Rose's Passion (2004, 38 min., Video) Directed by Oren Jacoby Produced by New Jersey Studios, Steve Kalafer, and Peter Ledonne. Followed by an audience Q&A with Sister Rose Thering, Sister Mary Boys, and Oren Jacoby. Winner of the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival's Best Documentary Short Award and Nominee for the 2005 Best Documentary Academy Award, Sister Rose's Passion tells the story of Sister Rose Thering, a Catholic nun who has spent her life fighting anti-Semitism and promoting Holocaust remembrance.   Sister Rose is professor emeritus of secondary education at Seton Hall University in South Orange, where she helped establish the school's graduate department of Jewish-Christian studies in the early 1970s. Thering was instrumental in creating the National Christian Leadership Conference for Israel in 1974 and helped design New Jersey's state-mandated Holocaust education curriculum. Free with suggested donation.

Sunday, October 23, 2:30 P.M. Debbie Friedman in Concert "(Debbie Friedman sings) the music of jubilation and confirmation. It is a call to community and commonality that rages against the darkness and spreads light." - Peter Yarrow Debbie Friedman live in concert is an experience not to be missed. Over the last 30 years, Debbie has performed in hundreds of cities in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Israel. She explores important Jewish themes through her sparkling melodies and thoughtful lyrics, making her music a timeless and treasured tradition for children and adults alike. We invite members of all generations to come spend an afternoon with Debbie, as she helps us celebrate Sukkot with an unforgettable concert!  Refreshments served in our community-built sukkah following the concert. Recommended for ages 6 and up. $25 adults, $18 seniors, $12 members/students. This program is co-sponsored by JCP and is made possible by funding from UJA-Federation of New York. Family Programs at the Museum are made possible through the generous support of the Leo Rosner Foundation and The Gloria and Sidney Danziger Foundation .

Sunday, October 30, 2:30 P.M. The Daniel Pearl Dialogue for Muslim-Jewish Understanding Featuring Akbar Ahmed and Judea Pearl Presented with The Tribeca Film Institute Introductory remarks by Rabbi Marc Schneier and Russell Simmons of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding. Moderated by Jackie Lyden The world has come to know Daniel Pearl as the Wall Street Journal reporter who was murdered by terrorists in Pakistan, in early 2002. Since then, he has been remembered more for his courageous work than for his senseless death. Guided by shared values and inspired by Daniel's legacy, Doctors Judea Pearl and Akbar Ahmed will discuss Muslim-Jewish relations with New York City audiences for the first time.    Stressing the necessity of reconciliation, Doctors Pearl and Ahmed strive to shift the nature of discourse from accusation and fear to inquiry and respect. Akbar Ahmed is Chair of Islamic Studies and Professor of International Relations at American University, and former Pakistani Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Judea Pearl, father of Daniel Pearl, is President of the Daniel Pearl Foundation. $18 adults, $15 seniors, $10 members/students This program is co-sponsored by The Foundation for Ethnic Understanding and made possiblet hrough the generous support of Gary and Marie Zwerling and Family, and Ann Oster.

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From Serious Discussions to Sentimental Sounds
Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust Announces Year-End Events
November-December Public Program Schedule for Museum's Edmond J. Safra Hall

New York, NY - This November, the Museum of Jewish Heritage- A Living Memorial to the Holocaust will inaugurate a new non-fiction book club called Looking Back, Facing Forward.  Prominent journalists and authors will discuss their recently published books, giving attendees the opportunity to explore new perspectives on important topics in a stimulating series of conversations.  In addition to the book club, the Museum will be offering an exciting mix of music, film, symposia, and children's programming.  The Museum will kick off the series on Wednesday, November 2 at 7 p.m. with Laurel Leff's new book Buried by the Times: The Holocaust and America's Most Important Newspaper.  Series moderator Gabriel Sanders, the features editor of the Forward, will moderate a discussion with Leff and New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof about the Times' coverage of the Holocaust.Another highlight of the season will be Challah-lujah: Food for the Soul starring Joshua Nelson and the Kosher Gospel Choir on December 25.  This return engagement by Nelson and his choir will be an uplifting and delicious alternative for families looking for something other than Chinese food and a movie this year on a day that happens to be the first night of Chanukah and Christmas Day.  Among the other programs coming up at the Museum:

*    Sentimental Journey - (November 13)- join Cantor Rebecca Garfein and Zalmen Mlotek for an afternoon of popular World War II era standards. This program is presented in honor of Veterans Day in conjunction with the Museum's special exhibition Ours To Fight For: American Jews in the Second World War.
*    Zion Ozeri: Photography and Diversity of Jewish Life -  (November 16) - in conjunction with the opening of the new special exhibition Bukharan Odyssey, photojournalist Zion Ozeri will lead an illustrated conversation about the Jewish communities he has photographed around the world.
*    Rene & I -   (November 20) - a 2004 documentary about a twin brother and sister who survived Auschwitz only to be split up after the war and brought back together years later. A discussion with the director, executive producers, and subjects of the film will follow the screening. 
*    Ambassador Henry Morgenthau & the Armenian Genocide - (November 30) - The second part of the new Looking Back, Facing Forward book club will present Ara Sarafian's new book United States Diplomacy on the Bosphorus:  The Diaries of Ambassador Morgenthau, 1913-16.  Gabriel Sanders will moderate.
*    The Rosenblatt Forum: Two Nurembergs - The Perversion and Preservation of Justice - (December 4) - This symposium will explore how the Nuremberg laws and the Nuremberg trials framed an astonishing decade, and shed light on the role of justice and law in a democracy. Harvard School of Law professor Alan Dershowitz will present the keynote address.
*    New Jews: The End of the Jewish Diaspora - (December 14) - cutting-edge thinkers and artists including author David Schneer, and Richard Siegel, the executive director of the Foundation for Jewish Culture, will lead a dynamic exploration of contemporary Jewish identity and newly inclusive religious communities, presenting a compelling portrait of Jewish life today. 
*    Hanukkah Theater Performance with the Striking Viking Story Pirates - (December 18) - An eclectic ensemble that adapts hilarious kid-authored tales into a vaudeville-style musical.


Also coming in November is the opening of Bukharan Odyssey: Photographs by Zion Ozeri. Opening on November 16, this moving exhibition captures the rich and vibrant intersection of Jewish, Persian, and Soviet influences on Bukharan Jews. The Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, located at 36 Battery Place in Battery Park City, uses a core exhibition of more than 2,000 historic photographs, 800 historical and cultural artifacts, and 24 original documentary films to educate people of all ages and backgrounds about the broad tapestry of Jewish life over the past century-before, during, and after the Holocaust. The Museum develops special exhibitions and public programs to examine more closely specific areas of Jewish history and heritage.  The Robert M. Morgenthau Wing contains the state-of-the-art Edmond J. Safra Hall, Andy Goldsworthy's Garden of Stones, catering hall, classrooms, and expanded gallery space for special exhibitions.  The Museum is a founding member of the Museums of Lower Manhattan. For more information, visit www.mjhnyc.org or call (646) 437-4200. The Museum gratefully acknowledges general operating support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Family Programs at the Museum are made possible, in part, through the generous support of the Leo Rosner Foundation and The Gloria and Sidney Danziger Foundation.

Public Programs

Wednesday, November 2, 7 p.m. 

Looking Back, Facing Forward: Genocide and the Media With author Laurel Leff, Buried by the Times: The Holocaust and America's Most Important Newspaper, Nicholas Kristof, columnist, The New York Times, and moderated by the Forward's features editor Gabriel Sanders. In her new book Buried by the Times, Laurel Leff asks if The New York Times, America's most influential newspaper, underreported the mass murder of more than 6,000,000 Jews during the Holocaust.  Further, did the Times' owners, a prominent American Jewish family, rescue their own relatives from Germany while underestimating the dire state of European Jews? Gabriel Sanders of the Forward will lead a discussion with Leff and Kristof on the role media plays in influencing public opinion of global events, and explore how contemporary reporting of human rights violations has changed. Laurel Leff has been a faculty member at Northeastern University since 1996. Prior to her university appointment, she was a professional journalist for 18 years, reporting for the Wall Street Journal and the Miami Herald. She also served as an editor for American Lawyer Media and the Hartford Courant.  She teaches news writing and reporting, law of the press, and magazine writing to undergraduate and graduate students. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nicholas D. Kristof has been a columnist for The New York Times since November 2001. The Harvard and Oxford educated Rhodes Scholar joined the times in 1984 as a reporter covering economics. Over the last two decades, he has held a variety of positions at the paper including Bureau chief in Hong Kong, Beijing and Tokyo, and associate managing editor. He won his Pulitzer Prize in 1990 along with his wife, New York Times journalist Sheryl WuDunn, for their coverage of China's Tiananmen Square democracy movement. He has written extensively on genocide and the current situation in Darfur. $10 adults, $7 seniors, $5 members/students. This program is made possible, in part, by the Conference for Material Claims Against Germany: Rabbi Israel Miller Fund for Shoah Research, Documentation and Education. Co-sponsored by the Forward

Sunday, November 13, 2:30 p.m.
Sentimental Journey with Cantor Rebecca Garfein and Zalmen Mlotek

Cantor Rebecca Garfein of Congregation Rodeph Sholom will lend her lovely mezzo-soprano to popular World War II-era standards. Also featuring Yiddish folk pianist Zalmen Mlotek of the Folksbiene Yiddish Theater, this lyrical afternoon will surely bring back memories.  Don't miss this rousing line-up featuring songs like "Bei Mir Bistdu Schoen", "Any Bonds Today," and "I'll Be Seeing You." This program is being offered in conjunction with the special exhibition Ours To Fight For: American Jews in the Second World War, and in honor of our Veterans. Cantor Garfein, mezzo-soprano, is the Senior Cantor of Congregation Rodeph Sholom in New York City, and is the first female Cantor ever to hold this position. She has appeared in numerous recitals throughout the United States, Israel, and Europe including the 1997 Jewish Cultural Festival in Berlin, Germany. Cantor Garfein made her New York City debut with the New York Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra at Cami Hall and recently made her Carnegie Hall debut at a concert with Dr. Ruth Westheimer celebrating the release of Dr. Ruth's new book, Musically Speaking.  She is a graduate of Rice University's Shepherd School of Music and the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Zalmen Mlotek is the Executive Director of the Folksbiene Yiddish Theater. He is an internationally recognized authority on Yiddish folk and theater music, and a leading figure in the Jewish theatre and concert worlds.  He has been an innovative force in bringing contemporary musical theater pieces about the Jewish-American experience to Broadway and to communities nationwide. Mr. Mlotek has performed and conducted on Broadway in New York and throughout the rest of the world.  $15 adults, $12 seniors, $10 members/students

Wednesday, November 16, 7 p.m.
Zion Ozeri: Photography and Diversity of Jewish Life

From Bukhara to Djerba, from Montevideo to Brooklyn, Zion Ozeri's photographs speak of the cross-cultural dimension of contemporary Jewish life, always looking for connections in a world often defined by exile and loss. During this illustrated conversation, view a body of work that depicts communities scattered around the world, trying to find in them a sense of home, familiar customs, and shared experiences. Born in Israel to Yemenite parents and currently living in New York City, Zion Ozeri is one of the world's leading photojournalists. Raised in Israel during a period of mass immigration, he interacted with many diverse cultures. This unique background gave him a cross-culture perspective that suffuses his work. He graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology and Pratt Institute, both in New York City, where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. His photographs have appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, The Jerusalem Report, Middle East Insight, and many other publications. His work also has been exhibited in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, The Diaspora Museum in Tel Aviv, the 92nd Street Y in New York, and many galleries across the United States. Free with suggested donation

Sunday, November 20, 2:30 p.m.
Rene & I (72 min, 2004, Beta SP)

Irene and her twin brother Rene were barely six years old when they crossed paths with Dr. Josef Mengele at Auschwitz.  Only eight years old when the war ended, they were sent to live on different sides of the globe.  Rene & I is the story of their lives during the Holocaust, and the stunning coincidences that led to their reunion.  Following the screening the twins - Rene Slotkin and Irene Hizme - will join Director Gina Angelone, and executive producers Leora Kahn and Zeva Oelbaum for a question and answer session about the film. $10 adults, $7 Seniors, $5 members/students. This program is made possible by the Conference for Material Claims Against Germany: Rabbi Israel Miller Fund for Shoah Research, Documentation and Education.