The Southern Shmooze
June 2022
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Happy Birthday to Us
...and what a year it's been!
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We're finally having the Grand Opening we always imagined!
You and your families are all invited to our Celebration Festival on Sunday from 12pm-4pm. There will be food, music and fun for all ages. Play matzoh ball gumbo cornhole with our executive director Kenneth Hoffman! Pin the hat on MSJE's celebrity mascot, Willie Sklar!
Enjoy the sweet sounds of John Rankin, David Buchbinder's Rhythm & Jews, and Jonathan Freilich of the Klezmer All-Stars, and much more! Admission to MSJE and the Festival is free and open to the public. All ages welcome and encouraged!
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Annabelle Gurwitch at MSJE
You're Leaving When? Adventures in Downward Mobility
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WHAT: MSJE welcomes New York Times best-selling author, activist, and comedian (and Mobile, Alabama native) Annabelle Gurwitch. She’ll tell us about her newest work You're Leaving When? Adventures in Downward Mobility as well as her southern Jewish story in a way only she can - with humor and insight. Annabelle will also be signing her newest book after the program. Pre-order online at the MSJE Store!
WHEN: Sunday, June 26, from 3:00-4:00pm Central.
WHERE: Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience, 818 Howard Ave.
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Some Recent Acquisitions
Our collection grows and grows
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As we enter our second year, MSJE continues adding to our collection. Here are just a few of the items that people have donated to us in recent weeks.
You can learn more about donating artifacts to the Museum here.
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A World War I Commemoration
Sol H. Klumok, a Russian Jewish immigrant living in Sunflower, MS, enlisted in the National Guard on July 27, 1917, and served in France with the 114th supply train. This Soldiers Memorial print was given to each member of the Company C, First Regiment, Mississippi Infantry. Thanks to Sylvia Goodman, Sol's daughter, for this donation.
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Wedding Congratulations
Stephen Moses donated this book of more than 100 congratulatory telegrams sent to Jacob and Melanie (nee Weil) Goldsmith for their 1894 wedding in New Orleans. We spotlighted more about this wonderful artifact in our May members newsletter, Kibbitz & Grits. Not a member yet? Hmmm.
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Mardi Gras Costume
Joan Horowitz Hoffman donated a treasure trove of photographs of her, family and friends at the Krewe of Moslem Mardi Gras Ball, in 1957. Best of all, she donated the fabulous gown and headdress pictured here, plastic grapes and all! Jews and Mardi Gras – a truly unique Southern Jewish experience.
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Tennessee Store Circular
"You don't need an income like a bootlegger, just a thirst for bargains." This is just one of many sales pitches on this awesome c. 1931 newspaper store circular from Abe Rosenberg's store in Mt. Pleasant, Tennessee. Thanks Jean Rosenberg Stoloff for sending it to us.
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Museum Store Item of the Month
MSJE Pride Merchandise!
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Shalom Y'all means Shalom All. Celebrate Pride Month in style with our new selection of MSJE merchandise to support the LGBTQ+ community.
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The Museum Store is dedicated by Harold Wainer in memory of George & Helen Wainer and Harriet Wainer Kuglerat. |
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Meet the Summer Visitor Services Team |
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Our Visitor Services Team has the best job ever! They get to spend time in the galleries, talk to our visitors from all over the world, and escape the summer heat by staffing the front desk. Here is a closer look at the friendly faces that you will see during the summer months at MSJE. |
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Mark is a professional musician working in the varied musical traditions of the South and performs regularly with the Panorama Jazz Band and often under the moniker “Jew of Oklahoma.”
This museum provides a great sense of pride of place for him as well as deep source of edification as every day he gets to introduce people from around the world the narrative that reflects his own experience; a proud Jewish son of the South.
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Naomi is from Seattle, Washington, and, she loves doing illustration and makeup. A student at Loyola University, Naomi first came to the Museum as a graphic design intern. She now enjoys working at MSJE because it has helped her feel more connected to her Jewish roots living in the South and because she loves the people who work here! |
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Danielle was born in Baton Rouge but grew up outside of Houston and spent summers at Greene Family Camp. Growing up, Danielle heard “you can’t be Jewish, and from the South; there are no Jews in the South" a little too often, so she relished the chance to help expand people's understanding of what Southern Jewish life looks like in the 21st century. |
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Virtual Stories from MSJE
Bring the Southern Jewish stories shared at the Museum to your community – virtually!
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Schedule a virtual group tour of MSJE! Spanning thirteen states and three hundred years, the MSJE's core exhibition explores the diverse relationships, experiences, and environments encountered by Jewish communities in the American South. We’ll discuss artifacts and stories from early Jewish immigrants as they navigated southern spaces to find and build communities. Learn how southern Jews maintained their identity and became part of the fabric of southern society. The MSJE team will walk you through the galleries and have a conversation about this unique yet universal story.
The Virtual Stories Program is a one-hour Zoom-based interactive conversation with a member of the MSJE team that includes Q&A, and story sharing. The program is $200 for groups of 100 people or more, and $100 for groups under 100 people.
If your group is interested in exploring a specific area of the Southern Jewish experience, please contact Public Programs Manager Lizzi Meister at lizzi@msje.org
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This Month in Southern Jewish History |
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ALABAMA: June 3, 1923
Temple Emanu-El, in Jasper, is officially dedicated, with Rabbi Solomon Katz, from Temple Emanu-El in Birmingham delivered the keynote address. The opening and closing service was conducted by Sigmund Shapiro, and congratulatory remarks were delivered by Rev. Stansell, pastor the the Methodist Church, Re. J.J. Taylor, pastor of the Jasper Baptist Church, Rev. W.T. Well, Christian minister, and Rev. C.H. Lancaster, pastor of the West Jasper Nazarene Church.
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LOUISIANA: June 3, 1971
The Town Talk newspaper, in Alexandria, prints a petition in support of Soviet Jews who are being denied religious freedoms in Russia. These Jews, often called Refuseniks because they had been refused exit visas by the Soviet government, attracted the attention and support of Jews and non-Jews across the United States, including in Southern cities and towns like Alexandria.
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SOUTH CAROLINA: June 13, 2011
Max Moses Heller dies at age 92 in Greenville. Heller served as mayor of Greenville from 1971-1979. Born in Austria, Heller immigrated at age 19 to America in 1938 and was soon able to bring his parents to South Carolina. When he took office, he desegregated all city offices and commissions. Two years before his death, the city of Greenville honored Heller by erecting a statue of him on Main Street.
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VIRGINIA: June 15, 1910
The University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, unveils a statue of founder Thomas Jefferson, made by Richmond-born sculptor Moses Jacob Ezekiel. The statue received a prominent location on the north side of the Rotunda. The statue was cast in Ezekiel's studio in Rome and shipped to Virginia with funds donated by supporters of the university, including Isidor Straus, Jacob Schiff, Isaac Seligman, and the International Order of the B'nai Brith.
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GEORGIA: June 21, 1915
After a review of the evidence indicates discrepancies in prosecution witness testimony, Governor John Slaton commutes Leo Frank's death sentence for the murder of Mary Phagan to life imprisonment. Slaton received more than 1,000 death threats for his action, was hanged in effigy, and soon after his term as governor is over, he and his wife Sarah left Georgia for more than a decade. Two months after the commutation, Frank was lynched by an angry mob, in Marietta, GA.
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MISSISSIPPI: June 30, 1868
Ida Weis Friend is born in Natchez. Growing up in New Orleans, where her father was a successful cotton merchant, Ida became a local and national activist. She founded the city's chapter of Hadassah, served as president of the women's chapter of B'nai Brith, and from 1926-1932 was president of the National Council of Jewish Women. She was also active in the women's suffrage movement and Democratic state politics.
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So Many Ways to Support MSJE... |
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GIVE ONLINE
MAIL US A CHECK
to PO Box 15071, New Orleans, LA 70175
DONATE FROM YOUR IRA
required distribution
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DESIGNATE MSJE
as a recipient of your Donor Advised Fund
DONATE STOCK
or other marketable securities
INCLUDE MSJE
in your estate planning (we can help)
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Shalom. Make yourself at home.®
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Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience
818 Howard Avenue | New Orleans, LA 70113
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Banner images (l-r): Members of Congregation Beth Israel in Clarksdale, MS, c.1910. Collection of Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience; Blue Star campers, North Carolina, 2016. Courtesy of Blue Star Camps.
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