Upcoming Programs at JHSGH
To learn more about an event, click on the event's title or view the program descriptions below. Please contact the historical society staff if you have any questions.
- Thursday, May 3, 2018, 11:00 AM: Jewish American Heritage Month Celebration at State Capitol
- Wednesday, May 9, 2018, 7:00 PM: Monuments Men: A Daughter's Discovery of her Father's Role in the Search for Nazi Plunder
- Monday, May 14, 2018, 7:00 PM: "An Israel Art Journey" Trip Information Meeting
- Tuesday, May 22, 2018, 6:00 PM: "Back to the Old Country: The Jewish Food Renaissance" with Jeffrey Yoskowitz
- June 26, 2018, 6:00 PM, 7:00 PM: Annual Meeting and Exhibit Opening Program: Let My People Go: A Personal Reflection by a Soviet Jewry Activist, featuring Dr. Sheldon Benjamin
- June 26-July 29, 2018: Power of Protest: The Movement to Free Soviet Jews Traveling Exhibit
Jewish American Heritage Month Celebration at State Capitol
Connecticut State Capitol, Old Judiciary Room, 210 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, CT 06106
Thursday, May 3, 2018
11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Co-sponsored by JFACT, the Connecticut Jewish Historical Societies, Congregations Beth Israel, and Mishkan Israel
In 1843, the Connecticut General Assembly permitted Jews the legal right to assemble for public worship and to incorporate their synagogues. Come celebrate the 175th anniversary of this milestone with us! Our guest speaker is The Honorable Henry S. Cohn, Superior Court Judge in the New Britain District and a noted legal historian. Judge Cohn will speak on the rights of Jews in Connecticut from the state’s founding to the passage of the 1843 statute giving Jews permission to form ecclesiastical societies.
RSVP to Ayelet Weber at aweber@jfact.org or 860.727.5771 or register online here.
Monuments Men: A Daughter's Discovery of her Father's Role in the Search for Nazi Plunder
Mandell JCC, 335 Bloomfield Avenue, West Hartford, CT 06117
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
7:00 pm
Baltimore Journalist Susan Fisher Sullam will tell the fascinating story of her discovery of her father's role in "Task Force Fisher". As a member of General Dwight Eisenhower's staff during World War II, Lt. Commander Joel Fisher kept records detailing one of the greatest treasure hunts in history. His documents, found by his daughter after his death, chronicled how Fisher led a task force during the closing month of the war that located and recovered billions of dollars' worth of gold, silver, currency and artwork looted by the Nazis.
Cost: $10 in advance, $12 at the door.
To register online, use the Paypal button below.
For more information, contact Lynn Newman at lnewman@jewishhartford.org or 860-727-6170
"An Israel Art Journey" Trip Information Meeting
Mandell JCC, 335 Bloomfield Avenue, West Hartford, CT 06117
Monday, May 14, 2018
7:00 pm
The Jewish Historical Society and The Mandell JCC are delighted to offer a Five Star, 10-day Arts Journey to Israel. We are bringing together our combined expertise in Jewish travel, a talented and experienced guide, and unparalleled resources in Israel. This trip's itinerary includes a wide array of unique experiences that present the multi-faceted, diverse and dynamic place that is Israel. While there are countless ways to visit another country, on this trip we see Israel - past and present - through the lens of her beautiful and diverse arts and culture. Dance, music, culinary arts, decorative arts, photography, literature, sculpture, arts and crafts, theater - we're doing it all! Join us to see Israel in a whole new way. We can't wait!
There will be an information meeting on Monday, May 14, 2018, 7:00 PM at the Mandell JCC. Meet our guide, Julian Resnick, and hear all about this wonderful trip. Until then, if you have any questions, call Estelle Kafer at 860-727-6171, David Jacobs at 860-231-6313 or Donna Goldstein at 860-231-6315.
Back to the Old Country: The Jewish Food Renaissance
Infinity Hall, 32 Front Street, Hartford, Connecticut 06103
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
6:00 pm
Sponsored by Jewish Hartford European Roots Project, UConn Dodd Center
Join us for a food tasting and book talk by Jeffrey Yoskowitz.
When Jeffrey Yoskowitz and co-author Liz Alpern of The Gefilteria began their work exploring the foods of their Ashkenazi families, they wanted to go back to the roots of the cuisine in Europe. Their culinary explorations have since brought them to Germany, Poland, Lithuania and Hungary, and in each location they’ve discovered new and fascinating pieces of the culinary puzzle. By sharing the stories and culinary wisdom behind many of their recipes, Jeffrey will paint a picture of the past, present, and future of Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine.
The Jewish Hartford European Roots Project explores, documents and shares the rich diversity of European Jewish life before the Holocaust and its enduring legacy in our region. With broad participation from the Greater Hartford Jewish Community, the project supports lectures, field trips, adult learning, youth education, and other programming about Jewish life in Europe, discovering and connecting with this unique heritage. The Jewish Hartford European Roots Project is generously funded by a grant from the Konover Coppa Fund and is housed at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at the University of Connecticut.
This program is free and open to the public, but please RSVP using the link below no later than May 11th.
For more information and if you require an accommodation to participate, contact Lynn Newman at lnewman@jewishhartford.org or 860-727-6170
Poster, Let My People Go, illustrated by Dan Reisinger, 1969 National Museum of American Jewish History, 2006.1.1109 Peter H. Schweitzer Collection of Jewish Americana
JHSGH Annual Meeting
Let My People Go: A Personal Reflection by a Soviet Jewry Activist, featuring Dr. Sheldon Benjamin
Mandell JCC, 335 Bloomfield Avenue, West Hartford
June 26, 2018
Annual Meeting, 6:00 pm
Exhibit Opening Program, 7:00 pm
Dr. Benjamin, Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology, Director of Neuropsychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical School, will speak about his twenty year involvement with the movement. This program will be preceded by the JHSGH Annual Meeting from 6:00 – 6:45 pm with light refreshments.
For more information, contact Lynn Newman at lnewman@jewishhartford.org or 860-727-6170
Mira Merrick, age 15, of Silver Spring, Maryland, and friend David Helzner, age 12, at a rally on the National Mall, with a "Let my People Go," banner that Mira made out of a bed sheet and paint Washington, D.C., August 1973. National Museum of American Jewish History, 2013.18.1
Power of Protest: The Movement to Free Soviet Jews Traveling Exhibit
June 26-July 29, 2018
Chase Family Galley, Mandell JCC, 335 Bloomfield Avenue, West Hartford
Opening Program: June 26, 2018, 7:00 pm
A traveling exhibit from the National Museum of American Jewish History, Power of Protest: The Movement to Free Soviet Jews, will document one of the most successful human rights campaigns of the late 20th century. The panel exhibition showcases Americans' efforts in the late 1960s through 1990 to free refuseniks - Jews who lived in the Soviet Union and were denied the rights to live freely, practice Judaism, or leave the country due to their religion. Through text, imagery and media, the exhibit will blend compelling personal stories of American Jewish activists and the Soviet Jews who immigrated to America and impacted our society in countless ways.
For more information, contact Lynn Newman at lnewman@jewishhartford.org or 860-727-6170