Highlights include: Claude Lanzmann’s nine-hour opus, SHOAH, the first in-person screening of SHOAH held anywhere in almost a decade; LIVE concerts featuring Frank London, The Beary Brothers, and The Noga Band in Battery Park City’s Wagner Park; and Family Programming
(New York, NY)—As New York City continues to reopen, the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust will present a summer filled with movies, music, and more – welcoming audiences back in person for concerts in Battery Park, family programs, and viewings of the epic, nine-hour film SHOAH.
“We are excited for the return of live, in-person events,” says Museum President & CEO Jack Kliger. “This past year was extremely difficult for the cultural sector and for our fellow New Yorkers, but we are looking forward to gathering together again, honoring our traditions, and sharing our beautiful Jewish culture with residents and visitors to the city. We are resilient.”
Of particular note, the Museum will present the first physical screening in New York City in almost a decade of the nine-hour epic, SHOAH. A legendary movie that was 12 years in the making, SHOAH, directed by Claude Lanzmann, takes a deep dive into the Holocaust and features interviews with survivors, bystanders, and perpetrators across 14 countries. The film does not contain any historical footage but rather features interviews which seek to “reincarnate” the unthinkable event and revisits places where the crimes occurred. Inarguably one of the most important cinematic works of all time, SHOAH, when it first premiered on PBS over the course of four nights in 1987, inspired Americans to explore dark truths of the Holocaust that had long been avoided.
The film will be split into four sections and shown three times over the course of two weeks from June 13 to June 24 in the Museum’s newly renovated Edmond J. Safra Hall. The Museum will also release an exclusive interview with Holocaust historian Dr. Michael Berenbaum and Sirius XM radio’s Jessica Shaw about SHOAH’s legacy 34 years after its release.
In addition to the screening of SHOAH, the Museum of Jewish Heritage is offering other in-person events throughout the summer, including an ongoing outdoor concert series featuring Music of the Jewish Diaspora, multiple family events geared towards children, as well as additional film offerings, to be announced later in the summer.
The Museum’s LOX at Café Bergson is now also open for brunch, lunch, and dinner, serving its Museum made smoked salmon and other kosher delicacies. LOX will be open during in-person events and providing menu options at the outdoor concerts.
Even with the return of more in-person programming, not everyone may wish or be able to travel or attend. The Museum will continue presenting virtual programming for online audiences, such as its Young Friends of the Museum’s Sunset Soiree.
For more information and a full calendar of virtual and in-person events, please visit the events page. Select in-person events also are available online via livestream.
In-person Summer Highlights include:
- Director Claude Lanzmann’s epic film, SHOAH, which takes a full-scale look at the Holocaust, comes to the newly-renovated Edmond J. Safra Hall. The Museum will screen the recently remastered four-part film three times over the course of two weeks. (June 13-24).
- The Music Of The Jewish Diaspora series features Jewish artists from across the world performing in The Battery’s Wagner Park,, including Frank London and Psoy Korolenkor (June 10, June 24, July 11).
- Fun family events for children include Oy Vey! Klezmer For Kids! (June 27) and the puppet show Pickle Soup And Other Tales For The Curious (August 8).
Summer Events:
SHOAH
June 13-24 | Multiple Times
Over a decade in the making, Claude Lanzmann’s nine-and-a-half-hour film SHOAH is a monumental investigation of the unthinkable: the murder of more than six million Jews by the Nazis. Using no archival footage, Lanzmann instead focuses on first-person testimonies—of survivors, former Nazis, and other witnesses. The Museum will host the first in-person screening of SHOAH held anywhere in almost a decade. The film will be split into four parts and screened over a period of two weeks in the Museum’s newly-renovated theater, Edmond J. Safra Hall. Screenings are $5 each for Museum members or $10 each for non-members. Learn More and Register >
Music Of The Jewish Diaspora: Sharabi Featuring Frank London And Deep Singh With Sarah Gordon
Thursday, June 10, 2021 | 6:30 P.M. ET
Sharabi is a Yiddish-Punjabi bhangra-funk-klezmer party band, fronted by trumpeter Frank London, a founding member of the Grammy-winning group the Klezmatics, and New York’s top-call Indian percussionist, Deep Singh. The Museum, Yiddish New York, and the Center for Traditional Music and Dance will co-present an outdoor summer concert in Wagner Park featuring Sharabi and Yiddish singer Sarah Gordon. Learn More and Register >
SMÍSH GEMÍSH
Sunday, June 13, 2021 | 11:30 A.M. ET
SMÍSH GEMÍSH is Sarah Myerson (SM), a Yiddish dancer and an ordained cantor, and Ilya Shneyveys (ÍSH), a klezmer multi-instrumentalist. They put the ear in learning, the now in knowledge, and the oy in joy. Children of all ages and heritages are invited for an afternoon with SMÍSH in Edmond J. Safra Hall as they mix (GEMÍSH) song, dance, games, and stories, and learn a bit of Yiddish along the way. Learn More and Register >
Music Of The Jewish Diaspora: The Beary Brothers Featuring Psoy Korolenko, Zisl Slepovitch, And Ilya Shneyveys
Thursday, June 24, 2021 | 6:30 P.M. ET
The Beary Brothers is a supergroup of three emigre musicians from the former Soviet Union. Psoy Korolenko, one of Russia’s leading contemporary bards, is joined by the spellbinding multi-instrumentalists Zisl Slepovich (Litvakus/Folksbiene) and accordionist Ilya Shneyveys (Forshpil). As The Beary Brothers, this eclectic progressive folk trio explores a diverse range of cultures, languages, musical styles from the Renaissance through modernity, and geographies from Andalusia to the Maghreb and the Russian steppe. The Museum and the Center for Traditional Music and Dance will co-present this outdoor summer concert in Wagner Park. Learn More and Register >
Oy Vey! Klezmer For Kids!
Sunday, June 27, 2021 | 1:00 P.M. ET
Sruli and Lisa’s Family Band features internationally known Klezmer personalities Sruli Dresdner and Lisa Mayer, their son Zach Mayer, and 12-year-old twins Johnny and Charlie. The family plays violin, accordion, clarinet, percussion, saxophone, and a bunch of wackier instruments—and they sing and dance and tell Jewish jokes.= “Oy Vey! Klezmer for Kids!,” is an afternoon with Sruli and Lisa’s Family Band intended for kids of all ages and their families. The program features all kinds of Jewish music: Klezmer, Hasidic, Israeli, and Nigunim (wordless melodies), some old and some new. This program will be held live in the Museum’s Edmond J. Safra Hall. Learn More and Register >
Music Of The Jewish Diaspora: The Noga Band Featuring Avram Pengas
Sunday, July 11, 2021 | 3:00 P.M. ET
New York music legend Avram Pengas is a virtuoso guitarist, bouzouki player, and singer whose music is rooted in the Mediterranean tavernas of Athens. Born into a musical family of Romaniote and Sephardic Jewish-Greek heritage, Pengas was raised in Jaffa. A budding career as a performer in Greek clubs in Israel brought him to New York in 1970 to participate in the legendary scene of Turkish-owned clubs along Eighth Avenue that were the pulse of Hell’s Kitchen from the 1920s to the 1970s. A popular performer in the local Greek and Sephardic/Mizrachi communities, Pengas and his Noga Band cook up a multicultural stew of rhythms and modes spanning Greece, Turkey, Armenia, Israel, and the Levant. The Museum and the Center for Traditional Music and Dance will present this outdoor summer concert in Wagner Park. Learn More and Register >
Pickle Soup And Other Tales For The Curious
Sunday, August 8, 2021 | 1:00 P.M. ET
Puppeteer and eccentric hostess Jenny Romaine and Jewish time wheel technician Elana June Margolis present “Pickle Soup and Other Tales for the Curious,” a puppet show for those who are serious about fun. This program, intended for kids of all ages and their families, will be held live in the Museum’s Edmond J. Safra Hall. Learn More and Register >
Sarah Aroeste With Shai Bachar: Ladino Music From Yesterday To Today, Live From Edmond J. Safra Hall
Sunday, August 8, 2021 | 3:00 P.M. ET
International Ladino singer/songwriter Sarah Aroeste draws upon her family roots from Macedonia and Greece as she performs traditional and original Ladino songs in this special multimedia program. Joined on piano by longtime Israeli collaborator Shai Bachar, Aroeste weaves stories from Sephardic history together with song, taking the audience through centuries of rich Sephardic experiences from the Eastern Mediterranean right up to the present. The Museum and the Center for Traditional Music and Dance will co-present this concert in the Museum’s Edmond J. Safra Hall. Learn More and Register >
Nu Jewish Storylab
Sunday, August 22, 2021 | 1:00 P.M. ET
Nu Words is Tracy Einstein and Richie Barshay, two music and theater artists with a passion for arts education. Their engaging performances of storytelling, poetry, drumming, and movement dazzle audiences and young people worldwide. The Museum will present the premiere of Nu Words’ “Nu Jewish Storylab,” a rhythm and movement exploration of Jewish children’s stories, from traditional to cutting edge. This program, intended for kids of all ages and their families, will be held live in the Museum’s Edmond J. Safra Hall. Learn More and Register >
About The Museum Of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
The Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust is New York’s contribution to the global responsibility to never forget. The Museum is committed to the crucial mission of educating diverse visitors about Jewish life before, during, and after the Holocaust. The third largest Holocaust museum in the world and the second largest in North America, the Museum of Jewish Heritage anchors the southernmost tip of Manhattan, completing the cultural and educational landscape it shares with the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
The Museum of Jewish Heritage maintains a collection of almost 40,000 artifacts, photographs, documentary films, and survivor testimonies and contains classrooms, a 375-seat theater (Edmond J. Safra Hall), special exhibition galleries, a resource center for educators, and a memorial art installation, Garden of Stones, designed by internationally acclaimed sculptor Andy Goldsworthy. The Museum is the home of National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene.
On view through June 20 are Ordinary Treasures: Highlights from the Museum of Jewish Heritage Collection and Rendering Witness: Holocaust-Era Art as Testimony.
The Museum receives general operating support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts.