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Jewish American Heritage Month Resources
What is Jewish American Heritage Month?
"May is Jewish American Heritage Month – On April 20, 2006, President George W. Bush proclaimed that May would be Jewish American Heritage Month. The announcement was the crowning achievement in an effort by the Jewish Museum of Florida and South Florida Jewish community leaders that resulted in resolutions introduced by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida and Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania urging the president to proclaim a month that would recognize the more than 350-year history of Jewish contributions to American culture. The resolutions passed unanimously, first in the House of Representatives in December 2005 and later in the Senate in February 2006.
"The month of May was chosen due to the highly successful celebration of the 350th Anniversary of American Jewish History in May 2004, which was organized by the Commission for Commemorating 350 Years of American Jewish History. This coalition was composed of the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, the American Jewish Historical Society, the Library of Congress and the National Archives and Records Administration.
"This site presents only a sample of the digital and physical holdings related to Jewish American heritage available from the Library of Congress and other participating agencies.
"Leading the way in implementation of the annual celebration is the Jewish American Heritage Month Coalition, formed in March 2007 and convened by United Jewish Communities, the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives and the American Jewish Historical Society."
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Web Resources
A short list of noteworthy materials on the open web
From the federal government
From the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, co-produced with jMUSE
From the New York Public Library
From the Smithsonian
From the National Archives
From Google Arts and Culture
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Ideas for Instruction
Lesson planning ideas and resources for teachers
From the federal government
From Edsitement!
From the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, co-produced with jMUSE
From EdPuzzle
From the NEA
From The Jewish Americans
