USA: New Exhibition Planned for DC's Lillian & Albert Small Museum

USA: New Exhibition Planned for DC's Lillian & Albert Small Museum

Jonathan Sarna and Pamela Nadell will discuss the future look for the 1876 former Adas Israel Synagogue

(ISJM) Scholars of American Jewish history, award-winning museum designers Gallagher & Associates, and Society staff will discuss plans for a new exhibition in the first synagogue building in the nation's capital.on Tuesday, July 7, 2009, from Noon to 1:00 p.m.

To read about the synagogue building and its history click here.

The lunchtime discussion features:

* Prof. Jonathan Sarna,
Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History
Brandeis University

* Prof. Pamela Nadell,
Inaugural Patrick Clendenen Professor of History
Director of the Jewish Studies Program
American University

Lillian & Albert Small Jewish Museum
701 Fourth Street, NW (at G St.)
Washington, D.C.
Metro: Judiciary Square

Enjoy this unique opportunity to learn stories of the men and women who built the 1876 synagogue and see historic images and objects from the building's history.

Bring your own lunch or order a box lunch for $15. Drinks provided.

This free program is made possible by a grant from the Humanities Council of Washington, D.C., an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Historic Preservation Office of the D.C. government's Office of Planning.

Several years ago I had the privilege of working on the historic structures report for this small but important building. I am pleased to see that the Jewish Historical Society of Great Washington Continues to work to make visiting the the site a significant experience.

Israel: Byzantine Period Ma'on-Nirim Synagogue Mosaic Restored and Returned to Original Site in Negev

Israel: Byzantine Period Ma'on-Nirim Synagogue Mosaic Restored and Returned to Original Site in Negev

(ISJM) ArtDaily.org reports on the inauguration of the newly restored Byzantine-period synagogue mosaic of Ma'on-Nirim, in the Western Negev, discovered in 1957 near Kibbutz Nir Oz. The mosaic features a seven-branched menorah and and animal images.

After suffering from neglect and damage for many years, the mosaic was removed in 2006 and taken for conservation at the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem. It has been conserved and returned to its original location which is now open to the general public.

This mosaic originally measured 3.70 x 7.80 m but was damaged when the road to Kibbutz Nir Oz was paved in 1957. The mosaic floor and the remains of the synagogue were discovered during salvage excavations that were undertaken on behalf of the Department of Antiquities in 1957. The mosaic’s state of preservation has deteriorated in recent years as a result of the unsuitable conditions in which the mosaic was kept and a lack of maintenance.

Read the entire article here

Presidents and Synagogues

Presidents and Synagogues

The blog has been quiet this past week as I have been traveling in Poland and Ukraine, speaking at two conferences and having almost round-the-clock meetings and site and exhibition visits. I found simultaneous participation and blogging impossible. I don't know how those bog-on-the spot political correspondents do it (well, I guess they observe and follow the pack instead of act and think independently). But now I can catch up. You’ll be hearing more about in the days to come.

But for now, I want to write in the spirit of American election day. What does the election have to do with Jewish monuments …except that candidates have been feverishly courting Jewish votes and money? Well, for one thing, there is a long association of presidents and synagogues.

As early as 1876, President Ulysses S. Grant attended the dedication of Washington, DC’s first permanent house of worship: Adas Israel. That building, moved to 3rd and G Streets, N.W., and restored is now a Jewish museum run by the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington. It is reported that President Grant was seated on a small sofa near the front of the sanctuary during the dedication on June 9, 1876, and that he stayed for the entire service (unlike many congregant who left early). Grant, who despite anti-Jewish policies as a Civil War general, was popular with Jews as president. He entertained Jews at the White House and appointed Jews to Federal jobs. He also made a donation of $10 to the synagogue.

More recently, presidents make a point of visiting synagogues at home and abroad. George W. Bush visited the restoration of the Choral Synagogue in St. Petersburg, Russia on May 27, 2002. He also praised the Chabad Lubavitch leadership there, helping to secure support from the Lubavitch and other Hasidic Jews in the United States. In Washington, DC, Bush visited on September 14, 2005, another former Adas Israel building, now the restored Historic Synagogue at 6th and I Streets.

I assume the list of presidential visits to synagogues to be quite long. Likewise, the tradition of royalty in Europe visiting synagogues became popular in the emancipated 19th century and continues today. I invite my readers to contribute instances of visits where politics and Judaism sit side by side in the synagogue.