Center for Jewish History

Have you been to the Center for Jewish History for a docent-led tour?

The Center for Jewish History, located at 15 West 16 Street, at the crossroads of the Chelsea/Flatiron/Greenwich Village neighborhoods in New York City, has emerged from a vision of a unique central resource for the cultural and historical legacy of the Jewish people. The Center embodies the partnership of five major institutions of Jewish scholarship, history and art: American Jewish Historical Society, American Sephardi Federation, Leo Baeck Institute, Yeshiva University Museum and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. The Center serves the worldwide academic and general communities with combined holdings of approximately 100 million archival documents, a half million books, and tens of thousands of photographs, posters, artifacts, paintings and textiles - the largest repository documenting the Jewish experience outside of Israel. The Center's extensive program of exhibits, cultural events and intellectual gatherings will interest all who wish to explore the richness of the Jewish past and the promise of the Jewish future.

Tour groups from cities as far-flung as Seattle, Portland, Berkeley, Brookline, Danbury, Roanoke, Virginia, and Dresher, Pennsylvania, as well as from throughout the greater metropolitan New York City area, have been converging on the Center for Jewish History for guided tours of its many exhibitions and facilities. The Center is pleased to accommodate group tours at any time during its regular hours of operation. Group tours must be arranged in advance by calling 917-606-8226.

The Center also offers open public tours every Tuesday and Thursday at 2 p.m., and has been pleased to host visitors from Israel, England, France and Venezuela, as well as from across the United States. Reservations in advance are not required.

Tours, which are led by trained docents, encompass all areas of the Center dedicated to public service, including the Reading Room, Genealogy Institute, and the major exhibitions of the American Jewish Historical Society, American Sephardi Federation, Leo Baeck Institute, and YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. Visitors also tour the areas available for special events, including the auditorium and "Great Hall," and are welcome to browse in the Fanya Gottesfeld Heller Center Shop, eat in the Date Palm Café, and avail themselves of the Center's services in tracing family histories.

For the open public tours, the Center requests a contribution of $6 per person, $4 for seniors and students, with the funds used to support educational programs. (Costs for group tours must be arranged separately by calling 917-606-8226.) Tickets may be purchased in the Center Shop. For visitors wishing to include the Yeshiva University Museum galleries in their tour, combination tickets may be purchased at a cost of $10 for adults, $6 for seniors and students.

Current exhibitions on view at the Center include:

American Jewish Historical Society "A Particular Responsibility: The Making of the U.S. Army Talmud"

American Sephardi Federation " Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo: Highlights of a Life" (closes June 27, 2002)

Leo Baeck Institute "Persecuting Grandfathers, Interviewing Grandsons? - Austrian Gedenkdienst in New York" Co-Sponsored by the Jewish Museum, Vienna

Yeshiva University Museum "Journey to No End of the World"

"The Tree of Life Shtender"

"Traders to Tartary: From Saxony to the Caspian Sea"

YIVO Institute for Jewish Research "Mattityahu Strashun: Scholar, Philanthropist, Book Collector"

Center Exhibition "The Jewish Writer" by Jill Krementz

The Center for Jewish History is open Monday to Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and on Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Center is closed on the Jewish Sabbath and on all major Jewish holidays.

Check out the Center's website, www.cjh.org, for a complete calendar of events, travel directions, and additional information. Call 212-294-8301 to be placed on the Center's mailing list.