Help Us Put a Southern Accent on Jewish Joy

Support Our End-of-Year Campaign

Dear MSJE Friends,

At a time when we are all craving a more joyful Jewish community, MSJE continues to put a Southern accent on Jewish joy and continues to be a home for preserving and sharing our unique and wonderful stories–with each other, with our children, and with the entire world.

Did you know? 
We receive more than 1/3 of our financial support from donors in the last two months of the year.

MSJE relies on the generosity of supporters like you to keep the museum vibrant, engaging, relevant, and financially sustainable. If you are on our mailing list, please keep an eye out for a special mailing from us in the coming days. Inside, you'll find a return envelope that you can use to send us a year-end gift. (If you're not on our mailing list and would like to be, email me your address and I'll add you to it.)

Did you know? 
You can also support MSJE by

• designating MSJE as a recipient from your donor-advised fund
• donating all or part of your IRA's required minimum distribution
• donating stock
• donating a vehicle, hassle-free

You'll want to consult your financial advisor, but most donations are tax-deductible. All donations are joy-inducing!

Henry Galler, Nathan Rotterman, and Isaac Niederman, Holocaust survivors and members of the New Americans Social Club of New Orleans, knew the importance of Jewish joy!

Did you know? (I think do):

Your generosity makes Southern Jewish joy a reality at MSJE, in your community, in your home, and in your heart.

Thank you for supporting YOUR Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience!

Kenneth Hoffman, Executive Director

P.S. Send me a photograph of your Southern Jewish joy. Who knows, it might wind up in the December Shmooze!

Gift Memberships

The Hanukkah Gift That Keeps On Giving

Looking for something unique, creative, and outside the box? Does your family or friend also love Southern Jewish history?

MSJE Memberships are the perfect gift! Purchase by November 15th to ensure your gift memberships arrive to your loved ones in time for Hanukkah.

Questions? Email cindy@msje.org

Welcome to the MSJE Team

Richard Friedman is our new Senior VP for Development

Richard Friedman is the retired CEO of the Birmingham (AL) Jewish Federation. At the time of his retirement, he was the longest serving Federation CEO in the country. Throughout his 37-year career, Birmingham’s Federation was recognized nationally for its fundraising achievements, leadership development initiatives, and innovative communication strategies. 


During Richard’s tenure as CEO, Birmingham’s Federation, in partnership with the Birmingham Jewish Foundation, raised $120,000,000 through annual, capital and special campaigns and endowment gifts. 


Since retiring from the Federation, Richard has served as a consultant to Jewish non-profits. Most recently he helped a synagogue in Richmond, VA raise twice as much money as it anticipated for its capital campaign and Richmond’s Jewish day school raise $10,000,000 so far, including a $5,000,000 lead gift, toward a goal of $20,000,000. 


Richard also is an award-winning journalist. Prior to working for the Federation, he was a reporter and editor at The Birmingham News, then one of the South’s largest daily newspapers. He received two awards from the Associated Press for his reporting on the role race plays in Alabama politics. His writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Jewish Week, Los Angeles Jewish Times and other national publications. 
 

After retiring from the Federation, he served as associate editor of Southern Jewish Life magazine for three years, writing stories from throughout the South, and was honored by the American Jewish Press Association for his reporting.


Richard has a BA in English from American University and an MA in Journalism from the University of Maryland. He lives in Birmingham, his wife Sally’s hometown.

He is passionate about MSJE and looks forward to sharing that passion with new friends and old.

Upcoming Programs

To honor our nation's military veterans this Veterans Day, the museum will offer free admission to all veterans Wednesday, November 11 through Friday, November 13. We thank you for your service!

November Store Special

Tri-Color Chanukah Candles

Light up Chanukah in COLOR!

Add a little extra joy to your menorah this year with our Tri-Color Chanukah Candles. Festive, colorful, and perfect for celebrating all eight nights, they make a great addition to your own holiday traditions or a fun gift for someone special.

Shop the Tri-Color Chanukah Candles and brighten up your festival!

Use the code SHMOOZE10 to 10% off the Tri-Color Chanukah candles all November.

Eight Nights

Endless Ways to Celebrate

Chanukah is almost here! Stock up on festive candles, fun gifts, and meaningful Judaica from the MSJE Store. Whether you’re lighting the menorah, filling a gift bag, or adding a little Southern Jewish flair to your holiday, we’ve got something for every celebration.

Shop the MSJE Chanukah Collection and get ready to light up all eight nights!

The Museum Store is dedicated by Harold Wainer in memory of

George & Helen Wainer and Harriet Wainer Kugler.

This Month in Southern Jewish History

KENTUCKY: November 4, 1848

Isaac Wolfe Bernheim is born in Schmieheim, Germany, and immigrated to New York in 1867, supposedly with only $4 in his pocket. He left New York to peddle in Pennsylvania, and eventually settled in Kentucky, where he created a profitable bourbon distillery (I.W. Harper), become a renowned philanthropist, and establish the Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest, outside Louisville. Happy Birthday, I.W.!

VIRGINIA: November 7, 1922

The New Leader in Staunton reports that Jefferson Levy has offered to sell Monticello to the Thomas Jefferson National Memorial Association for $500,000. Financing of the deal would be guaranteed if the people of Virginia raised $50,000 within three weeks. They did, and it was. Levy's father, US Navy Commodore Uriah P. Levy, had purchased Monticello in 1834, and the Levy family maintained it for nearly 90 years, ensuring its preservation.

LOUISIANA: November 24, 1934

Lillian Hellman's play, The Children's Hour, premieres on Broadway and runs for 691 performances. The New Orleans-born playwright and screenwriter is also known for her works Watch on the Rhine, The Little Foxes, and Toys in the Attic (set in New Orleans). Before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1952, Hellman refused to "name names" and stated, "I am not willing, now or in the future, to bring bad trouble to people who, in my past association with them, were completely innocent of any talk or any action that was disloyal or subversive." She was blacklisted by the film industry in Hollywood.

TEXAS: November 24, 1963

Vice President Lyndon Johnson, a close friend of Austin businessman and civic leader Jim Novy, was scheduled to give the keynote address at the opening of Congregation Agudas Achim's new building. The assassination of President Kennedy the preceding day caused the ceremony to be postponed. A month later, now President Johnson came to Austin and dedicated the synagogue – the only time a US president has dedicated a Jewish house of worship.

MISSISSIPPI: November 24, 1967

Racists heavily damaged Rabbi Perry Nussbaum's house in Jackson, MS, with a dynamite bomb less than two months after Jackson's Congregation Beth Israel was bombed. Nussbaum, who actively supported integration, and his wife were in the house at the time, but were unharmed. Six months later, the synagogue in Meridian, MS, was also bombed.

ALABAMA: November 26, 1899

Temple B'nai Sholom in Huntsville is dedicated. Coverage of the dedication in The Weekly Democrat included this assessment of the town's Jewish population, “The Jews of Huntsville are examples of industry and thrift…There are Jewish merchants who came to this town with little more than their clothes…and have become the leading merchants and desirable citizens.”

Things To Do In...

Shalom. Make yourself at home.^℠

Banner images (l-r): Members of Congregation Beth Israel in Clarksdale, MS, c.1920. Collection of Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience; Blue Star campers, North Carolina, 2016. Courtesy of Blue Star Camps.