Jewish-American Hall of Fame Plaques in New Exhibit at the Virginia Holocaust Museum

April 18, 2010 - PRLog -- Like the ancient Israelites’ sojourn in the desert, it has taken 40 years for The Jewish-American Hall of Fame to find a permanent home. Launched in 1969 as an educational project of the Magnes Museum in Berkeley, California, each year an honoree (or in rare instances honorees) are inducted, and a portrait plaque by a prominent sculptor has been commissioned.

It was at least 10 years before some of the plaques were first displayed at the Magnes Museum, but the exhibit ended a decade ago when the Magnes briefly merged with the San Francisco Jewish Museum--and the plaques were relegated to the storage area. All of The Jewish-American Hall of Fame plaques were exhibited for the first time in 2008, at the Washington DC headquarters of B’nai B’rith International, but this display was not open to the public.

The “Wandering” Jewish-American Hall of Fame exhibit finally found a home after Hall of Fame founder Mel Wacks came across an article about Holocaust survivor Jay Ipson having founded the Virginia Holocaust Museum in Richmond. Mel called up Jay, they chatted, and Mel threw out the idea of permanently exhibiting The Jewish-American Hall of Fame plaques in the Museum. Jay made the 2-hour train trip to Washington, visited the exhibit at B’nai B’rith, and said “Yes.”

The Jewish-American Hall of Fame plaques will form “The Impact of Jewish Intellect on America and the World” exhibit, that will ask the provocative question “What If?--What contributions to mankind might have been made by the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust or their descendants? What if one of the murdered millions had discovered a cure for cancer, HIV/AIDS or Alzheimer’s? Would fossil fuels have become obsolete had an alternative been discovered by one of the Jewish children exterminated by the Nazis?” This display will complement another new exhibit entitled “Those People,” created by California-based artist Esther Glina Montagner, consisting of suitcases bearing the names of family members who disappeared in the “night and fog” of the Holocaust. This moving artistic statement also begs the question of What If…. What if Montagner’s family and countless others had been permitted to find refuge in America? How might the world have been different?  

The beginning of the exhibit features the Emma Lazarus plaque, along with her sonnet The New Colossus, including the immortal words “"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” Walking down a corridor, visitors will view plaques pertaining to The Jewish Presence in Early America, followed by In Defense of Liberty, Righteousness, Righteousness Shall You Pursue, and then a rotating group that features members of the entertainment field.

"The Jewish Presence in Early America" honors the Jews Who Helped Columbus (Don Isaac Abravanel, Luis Santangel and Abraham Zacuto), Asser Levy & the First Jewish Settlers in America (1654), and the Touro Synagogue (founded 1763). "In Defense of Liberty" features Navy Commodore Uriah P. Levy (1792-1862), Civil War Congressional Medal recipient Leopold Karpeles (1838-1909), major league baseball player and spy Moe Berg (1902-1972), and World War II Flying Ace Robert “Rosie” Rosenthal (1917-2008). "Righteousness, Righteousness Shall You Pursue" celebrates educator Rebecca Gratz (1781-1869), fighter for women’s rights Ernestine Rose (1810-1892), pediatrician Bela Schick (1877-1967), physicist & universal advocate of peace Albert Einstein (1879-1955), discoverer of the Polio vaccine Jonas Salk (1914-1995), founder of the visiting nurse service Lillian Wald (1867-1940), Supreme Court Justices Louis Brandeis (1856-1941) and Benjamin Cardozo (1870-1938), Labor Union pioneers Samuel Gompers (1850-1924) and Sidney Hillman (1887-1946), public servant Herbert Lehman (1878-1963), and the eloquent humanist Elie Wiesel (born 1928). The rotating gallery features stars of the entertainment world: composers Irving Berlin (1888-1989) and  George Gershwin (1898-1937), musical virtuosos Benny Goodman (1909-1986) and Isaac Stern (1920-2001), maestro Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990), performers Milton Berle and Barbra Streisand (born 1942), and playwright Arthur Miller (1915-2005). The Impact of Jewish Intellect display will culminate with the 2010 Jewish-American Hall of Fame honoree Barney Ross (1909-1967), three-time boxing champion and heroic Silver Star recipient.

The public is invited to the opening day festivities beginning at 2:00 PM on Sunday, May 16th at the Virginia Holocaust Museum, 2000 East Carry Street, Richmond, VA 23223. Speakers will include Jay Ipson, Founder and Executive Director of Virginia Holocaust Museum; Dr. Simon P. Sibelman, Assistant Executive Director of the Museum; and Mel Wacks, Founder and Director of The Jewish-American Hall of Fame. The Museum’s regular hours are 9-5 Monday-Friday, and 11-5 Saturday-Sunday; admission is free. For further information visit www.va-holocaust.com or www.amuseum.org/jahf.

Note that not all of The Jewish-American Hall of Fame plaques will be in this opening exhibit; a portion of the exhibit (beginning with the entertainment field) will change from time to time. Among the famous names missing in this first go-around are Israel Prime Minister Golda Meir, Baseball Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg, and illusionist Houdini—but they will be included in future exhibits.

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Founded in 1969, the Jewish-American Hall of Fame is now a division of the American Jewish Historical Society. Its award-winning web site can be seen at www.amuseum.org/jahf. For further information call (818) 225-1348 or email directorjahf@yahoo.com.