The Southern Shmooze
July 2022
|
|
A Weekend to Remember
Our June Celebration was a blast!
|
|
We had a great time celebrating our long-delayed "Grand Opening" (and first birthday) on June 11 and 12. Museum supporters from across the country joined us for donor receptions, a wonderful jazz brunch, and a family fun day of food, music, games, and more. |
|
☀️☀️☀️ Fun in the Sun ☀️☀️☀️
|
|
If you weren't able to attend, check out the commemorative program we made to celebrate the occasion. Be sure to click the full page icon at the right. Special thanks to our sponsors and all those who purchased Mazel Messages of greetings and congratulations!
|
|
Did You Miss Annabelle Gurwitch at MSJE?
Lucky You! – She's on our YouTube Page
|
|
|
|
If you missed New York Times best-selling author, activist, and comedian (and Mobile, Alabama native) Annabelle Gurwitch at the Museum last week, don't fret, we've got you covered. Click the link below to enjoy Annabelle's wonderful presentation about growing up Jewish in the South, making her way in New York and Los Angeles, and trying to lead a meaningful life of creativity, activism, and laughter.
We loved hosting Annabelle and gratefully accept her offer to spread the word about the Museum and the work we're doing as she heads back to California.
(L) Annabelle poses by her likeness in our Southern Jews in Southern Culture exhibit, featuring the likes of Lillian Hellman, Brent Spiner, Tony Kushner, Ginnifer Goodwin, and more.
|
|
From the Collection
The Pesses Torah
|
|
Leon Pesses, of New Orleans, recently donated a historic Torah to the Museum. He provided the following information about the Torah and his family's connection to it and the city:
*****
It is believed that this Sefer Torah was originally housed in a synagogue in Dubno, in western Ukraine, and was taken with Morris Pesses [Leon's great uncle] when he immigrated with his family to New Orleans in 1902, at the age of 35. He left in order to avoid a wave of pogroms against Jews that was occurring at that time, when Dubno was part of Poland. Once in New Orleans, it was likely used by one of the small Orthodox congregations until Morris donated it to the Communal Talmud Torah School, when it was established in 1915.
Morris’ older brother, Abraham, had previously immigrated, from Dubno (where the Jewish population was approximately 6,200 of the total population of 7,900) to New Orleans in the early 1880s. His descendants eventually moved to small towns throughout the South.
|
|
Morris’ other older brother, Zelig, had previously immigrated from Dubno to New Orleans in the late 1890s with his family. Most of his descendants remained in New Orleans.
Morris’ younger brother, Benjamin, brought his 10-year-old son, David Leon Pesses, from Dubno to New Orleans in 1911 to live with his uncle, Zelig. Benjamin then returned to the rest of his family in Dubno. When World War I began, each family was required to provide a son to be conscripted in the Russian military. David was therefore contacted in New Orleans, and he returned to Dubno for a 25-year conscription in order to avoid imprisonment of his parents. When his officer discovered that he was Jewish, David was severely beaten, so he eventually found a way to escape and returned to the US. After his escape, communications from his family in Dubno ended, and he assumed that they were imprisoned or killed.
*****
|
|
The Pesses Torah is pasul (non-Kosher) due to damage to some of the handwritten text, so it is no longer fit for ceremonial use. However, Leon saw to its stabilization, repair of one of its handles, and had a new mantel made–complete with new informative dedication. The Museum plans to use it for "hands-on" educational programming. The Museum currently has two Torahs on display in our exhibits: one displayed fully dressed, from Port Gibson, MS, and one displayed open, from Laurel, MS.
Leon Pesses and his wife Debbie Katz Pesses are Founding Donors to MSJE and active participants in our programs.
You can learn more about donating artifacts to the Museum here.
|
|
From Belgium to Chapel Hill to New Orleans
Meet our new curator, Dr. Tine Rassalle
|
|
After an extensive international search, we have found our new curator! Starting this month, Tine Rassalle will take over the position from Anna Tucker, who left us at the end of April. Tine was born in the Flemish-speaking part of Belgium and received a BA and MA in Archaeology from Ghent University. After these studies, she moved to the Netherlands where she got a second BA degree in Hebrew and Aramaic Languages and Cultures from Leiden University. In the Netherlands, she worked for a couple of years at the National Museum of Antiquities, including as assistant curator for the Near Eastern department. It was there that she became interested in a career in the world of museums and realized that she wanted to combine her interest in Jewish history with a Public Humanities position.
In 2014, Tine moved to the US to start a PhD in Jewish History and Archaeology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During her studies, she
interned at the Oriental Institute in Chicago and the American Numismatic Society in NY. Recently graduated, she is now ready to join the team at MSJE and is excited to get started and to meet all of you!
PS: Tine's other personal/academic interests include: Dead Sea Scrolls, early rabbinics, ancient synagogues, Hebrew Bible, archaeogaming, digital archaeology, curatorial practices, and museum studies.
|
|
We Are Fam-i-ly
Family Photo of the Month
|
|
We love old photos of Southern Jewish families, especially multi-generational photos. Shirley Lockenbach (far left) writes in her memoir:
"My early years in Tupelo [Mississippi] were spent going to school, attending Sunday School and Sunday family dinners in Red Bay, Alabama, at the home of my maternal grandparents (Sam and Celia Feldman), Uncle Morris and Aunt Florence Royal and their son Bobby. Other members of our family were Uncle Jerry and Aunt Sarah Sherman, their sons Leon and Gene, Uncle Albert and Aunt Janet Feldman, their sons Irwin and Teddy. I remember riding in a car without air conditioning in hot weather on a red clay road for 18 miles to reach Red Bay."
|
|
This Sam and Celia Feldman family photograph was taken in Red Bay, Alabama, in 1944. Courtesy of Shirley Lockenbach. Donated to us as part of Gene Sherman's family collection. |
|
Museum Store Item of the Month
Because we could all use a laugh...
|
|
With the local, national, and international news today leaving us angry, bewildered, confused, and ready to plotz, we could all use a break and we could all use a good laugh. Treat yourself or a friend to Annabelle Gurwitch's latest book, You're Leaving When? Adventures in Downward Mobility. You'll be glad you did!
"Annabelle Gurwitch is so funny that, even when bad things happen, she writes about them in a brilliantly entertaining way." –Dave Barry
"Erma Bombeck meets Dorothy Parker in this topical and often laugh-out-loud funny take on our modern malaise." –Kirkus Review
"It's never too early to start thinking about Chanukah presents!" –MSJE Museum Store Staff
Autographed copies of Annabelle’s book are available while supplies last.
|
The Museum Store is dedicated by Harold Wainer in memory of
George & Helen Wainer and Harriet Wainer Kugler.
|
|
Seeking Fall and Spring Semester Interns
|
|
The Museum’s Charles D. Zucker Jewish Studies Internship Program provides opportunities for college and graduate students interested in gaining museum, non-profit, and Jewish community work experience. Internships are generally one semester or summer in length. Duties vary based on the needs of the Museum and the skills and interests of the interns. Intern projects can involve research, writing, artifact care, business organization, and event and program planning. Class credit and public service requirements can be fulfilled, and modest stipends are available.
Interested college students should contact the Museum at info@msje.org to inquire about internship availability.
The Zucker Internship Program is made possible by a generous grant from the Charles D. Zucker Advised Fund of the Louisiana Jewish Endowment Foundation.
|
|
This Month in Southern Jewish History |
|
VIRGINIA: July 4, 1880
Jefferson Monroe Levy hosts his first annual community-wide open house and fireworks show at Monticello. His uncle, Uriah P. Levy, had purchased Thomas Jefferson's home soon after the former president's death, restoring and preserving it. J.M. continued the work, ensuring its survival.
|
|
GEORGIA: July 11, 1733
Approximately forty Jewish settlers land in Savannah, constituting the largest Jewish settlement in the American South. Passenger Samuel Nuñes de Ribeiro, a doctor, treated victims of a plague ravaging the colony. Shortly after, Savannah Jews established Mickve Israel, the South’s oldest Jewish congregation.
|
|
MISSISSIPPI: July 11, 1968
The city of Rolling Fork declares Sam Rosenthal Day. Born in Brooklyn, but raised in Natchez, Rosenthal was first elected mayor of Rolling Fork in 1924 and guided the town through the 1927 flood, the Great Depression, and the Civil Rights Movement. Rolling Fork is one of more than 200 Southern cities that has elected a Jewish mayor.
|
|
TENNESSEE: July 16, 1868
As the presidential campaigns of Ulysses Grant (R) and Horatio Seymour (D) heat up, the Jews of Memphis issue a resolution condemning Grant's bid for the highest office in the land, remembering his infamous 1862 Order No. 11 during the Civil War, banishing Jews from his theater of war.
|
|
LOUISIANA: July 16, 1958
Tony Kushner is born in Manhattan. Soon after, the Kushner family moved to Lake Charles where Tony's parents taught music at the local university and he spent his childhood. He has become an award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and author, known for the play Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes and the screenplay for Steven Spielberg's Lincoln.
|
|
OKLAHOMA: July 28, 1887
Samuel Zuckerman of Ardmore welcomes the city's first train passengers to his tent store next to the tracks. The railroad had recently been built on land confiscated from the Chickasaw Nation leading to a boom in local commerce. A pioneer of the Oklahoma Jewish community, Zuckerman went on to become a successful business and civic leader in Jewish circles and beyond.
|
|
Soooo Many Ways to Support MSJE...
|
|
GIVE ONLINE
MAIL US A CHECK
to PO Box 15071, New Orleans, LA 70175
DONATE FROM YOUR IRA
required distribution
|
|
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)
|
|
Shalom. Make yourself at home.®
|
|
Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience
818 Howard Avenue | New Orleans, LA 70113
|
|
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.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
