May 2022 eMUSE
Our mission is to preserve and promote
Jewish heritage, culture, history and community through art and education.
Jews & Golf Exhibit
May 12- August 28, 2022
Opening Reception
Tuesday, May 24, 2022
11:00 a.m.
(Before the JFT Annual Meeting Lunch)
With the PGA Tournament returning to Tulsa’s Southern Hills Country Club this May, what more perfect opportunity to spotlight Jewish professional golfers and our local golf history? Discover international champions and the Sunday duffers of Tulsa through authentic items and biographies of fifteen pros from Israel, Canada, England and the U.S. See our chronicle that created the local Meadowbrook Country Club founded by Jewish families who were blackballed from other Tulsa golf courses. 

Picture tag line: 1950’s Meadowbrook Social Event Promo Picture
Besa: Code of Honor
Muslim Albanians Who Rescued Jews During the Holocaust
Now – August 14, 2022
In 1933, Albania, a small and mountainous country on the southeast coast of the Balkan peninsula, was home to a population of 803,000. Of those only two hundred were Jews. After Hitler’s rise to power many Jews found refuge in Albania. No accurate figures exist regarding their number; however, different sources estimate that 600-1,800 Jewish refugees entered that country from Germany, Austria, Serbia, Greece and Yugoslavia, in the hope to continue on to the Land of Israel or other places of refuge. The remarkable assistance afforded to the Jews was grounded in Besa, a code of honor, which still today serves as the highest ethical code in the country. Besa means literally “to keep the promise.” One who acts according to Besa is someone who keeps his word, someone to whom one can trust one’s life and the lives of one’s family.

This exhibit is on loan from the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center and created by Yad Vashem, Israel.
Society’s Cage Photo Retrospective Exhibit
Now – June 10, 2022
An experiential installation, Society’s Cage—photographs by Jamie Glisson, was exhibited in Tulsa to coincide with the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre from Sunday, May 30 through Juneteenth (Saturday, June 19, 2021). The pavilion was exhibited on the grounds of the historic Vernon A.M.E. Church at 311 N. Greenwood Avenue. 
 
Society’s Cage was previously exhibited in Washington, DC, on the National Mall and in Baltimore, Maryland, on War Memorial Plaza.
 
“The intent of Society’s Cage is to educate about racialized state violence through an immersive experience,” says lead designer Dayton Schroeter, a principal at SmithGroup, an international architectural, engineering and design firm. “The installation complements the commemoration, remembrance and reconciliation in spirit with the centennial of the Massacre, the most egregious and least-recognized instance of racial injustice in our nation’s history.”
 
Society’s Cage debuted in Tulsa in partnership with Tri-City Collective, Inc.; Tulsa Artist Fellowship; Jewish Federation of Tulsa; Vernon A.M.E. Church; Temple Israel (of Tulsa); and Sharna Newman Frank Educational Gallery Philanthropic Fund.

The Society's Cage piece was designed by a group, collectively known as ‘CAOS':

Dayton Schroeter: lead designer and project manager 
Julian Arrington: lead designer
Monteil Crawley: design team member and logistics coordinator
Ivan O’Garro: design team member and data analyst

White on Black, Linoprints by A. Raymond Katz, 1933
Now – December 2022
Alexander Raymond Katz was a mural painter, stained glass, mosaic, and mixed media artist born in Hungary. Katz arrived at age 14 to the United States and following his studies at the American Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Academy of Arts, was employed to decorate movie palaces by Balaban and Katz, a corporation which owned a chain of motion picture theaters. His mural commission, Ten Commandments, at Century of Progress International Exposition (also known as the Chicago World’s Fair in 1933), was based on Jewish themes. Subsequent murals and stained-glass window designs commissioned by synagogues throughout America display symbolic images interpretive of Jewish traditions.

Collection donated by: Estelle and Allan Avery

Next Year in Jerusalem (L'Shana Haba'ah B'Yerushalayim) The Western Wall Through Art
Now – December 2022
From the Museum’s collection is Next Year in Jerusalem (L'Shana Haba'ah B'Yerushalayim) The Western Wall Through Art Exhibit. Be sure to stop in and take a look through the Museum’s collection to find artistic impressions of the Western Wall expressed in media that includes wood, paint, photography, metal and more. There will be a live feed from the Western Wall in Israel and an interactive component for guests to leave prayers and thoughts at our wall.  
Sanditen/Kaiser Holocaust Center
honoring Mildred and Julius Sanditen & Herman and Kate Kaiser
The Sanditen/Kaiser Holocaust Center at The Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art doubled in size from previous exhibit space and provides for new state-of-the-art displays, greatly enhancing the Museum’s Holocaust education capacity. The new Center is the cornerstone of activity at The Museum and will continue to bring in new visitors every day to learn why and how the Holocaust occurred and how to ensure it never happens again. Showcasing over 250 previously unseen artifacts donated by liberators and survivors, the horrifying events are recounted by five Holocaust survivors who made Oklahoma their home. Video first-hand accounts along with the artifacts and documents help guide the visitor through the history. The only Center of its kind in the region also features a one-of-a-kind art installation from local artists. The Museum’s Sanditen/Kaiser Holocaust Center honoring Mildred and Julius Sanditen & Herman and Kate Kaiser illuminates the effects of hate locally and worldwide.
Synagogues360°
by Louis Davidson

Now in the Permanent History and Culture Exhibit
The global quests of Ronnie and the late Louis Davidson produced a collection of photographic gems of the near-lost Jewish presence around the world. In Louis’ words:
    "We have met the last Jew in Corsicana, Texas. We have met the last Jew in Tupper Lake, New York, and Lexington, Mississippi. We have met the remaining handful of Jews in Bistritsa, Romania; Casale Monferatto, Italy; Cochin, India; and Dunedin, New Zealand. In more than a hundred towns around the globe we have met the last remnants of once vibrant Jewish communities and have photographically documented their synagogues. In many cases these photos are the last record and often only tangible physical proof that a Jewish community once thrived there.
    "This photographic project began with a 2003 visit to Sighet, Romania, where my wife Ronnie and I were impressed by the unusual architectural styles and highly decorative ornamentation of the synagogues of Romania and Eastern Europe. Seeing that these magnificent relics of our Jewish heritage were deteriorating due to the Holocaust and shifting Jewish population, we determined to photographically preserve these treasures for posterity.
    "It soon became apparent the preservation project should be broadened to include the incredible diversity of synagogues around the world and throughout the ages not only recording the photographic history but oral and cultural material.
    "In our travels abroad, we had neglected our home turf. So, from 20152017, together with our best canine buddy Harley, we visited every one of the continental United States and every province of Canada that had a synagogue. We believe that Harley holds the record of being in more synagogues than any other canine. She has earned the title 'Harley the Syna-Dog' bestowed on her along the journey.
    "Our Synagogues360° photo archive includes synagogues older than two thousand years to those of the most modern architecture as well as neo-classic, Byzantine, neo-Gothic, Art Nouveau, Art Deco and many vernacular design styles. This growing resource includes 584 synagogues from 38 countries including the world's northernmost and southernmost purpose-built synagogues."

This exhibit can also be enjoyed in 360° of virtual reality at Synagogues.org.

2022 Exhibit Sponsors
Arts Alliance Tulsa
The Frank Family Foundation
The Sharna & Irvin Frank Foundation
The Kirschner Trust 
The Anne & Henry Zarrow Foundation
Brian E. Brouse
Lori Frank and LaVonna Reed
Carol Miller
Barbara Sylvan
Angela and Kevin Taubman
Tribute Recognitions
Tributes are a meaningful way to honor a special occasion or to remember loved ones. Donations to The Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art provide for permanent and traveling exhibitions and educational programs. Focusing on the heritage, history and culture of the Jewish people, the SMMJA helps deepen perception and understanding through art.

In Memory of

Louis Davidson
The Andrew Starr Family

Jill Davidson Winter
The Andrew Starr Family

Tours and Volunteer Opportunities
If you would like to book a guided tour or check for an available date, please contact Greg Falconetti, at 918.492.1818 or email educator@jewishmuseum.net.
 
The Museum offers a comprehensive training program that prepares each docent to lead tours for school groups and general audiences. Tours are available every day the Museum is open, providing a flexible schedule for volunteers.
 
Docents are trained to take groups through all galleries. Anyone wishing to become a docent should contact Docent Chairman Stan Shapiro; Director of Holocaust Education, Nancy Pettus; or Director of Education and Library Services, Greg Falconetti at 918.492.1818. Those interested will receive an information manual regarding the Holocaust and Jewish History and Culture and will need to be available to shadow docents leading tours. They will also be expected to attend the art exhibit orientations and monthly meetings of the Committee of Docents.
 
Admission desk volunteers welcome and direct visitors to the Museum, answer phones and inquiries, help process admission and merchandise sales and assist staff with special events. Shifts are normally three hours in length, and a variety of hours are available.
 
Volunteers are essential to the success of the Museum, helping to avoid salary and labor costs associated with day-to-day activities and exhibit installation. 
 
Contact Greg Falconetti at 918.492.1818 or email educator@jewishmuseum.net to work with other dedicated, caring, enthusiastic and friendly volunteers and staff.
Museum Hours

MondayFriday
10:00 a.m.5:00 p.m.
 
Saturday
Noon5:00 p.m.
 
Sunday
1:00 p.m.5:00 p.m.

Closed Memorial Day
Monday, May 20, 2022


Museum Store
 
Lots of great items for sale
including a wide assortment of related books,
Judaica gift-ware, jewelry, stationery, shabbat candles,
yahrzeit candles, kippahs and mezuzahs, t-shirts,
as well as glass necklaces,
glass bowls and glass stones from a local artist.

Museum members receive a 10% discount on all museum store items.