The Jewish Children's Museum is the largest

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

-themed children's

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It aims for children of all faiths and backgrounds to gain a positive perspective and awareness of the Jewish heritage, fostering tolerance and understanding. The permanent collection features exhibits designed to be both educational and entertaining to children, often employing interactive multimedia. At the miniature golf course on the roof, for example, each hole represents a stage in Jewish life. The museum is located in the

Chabad-Lubavitch Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (), is an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic dynasty. Chabad is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, particularly for its outreach activities. It is one of the largest Hasidic group ...

Chasidic Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contem ...

community of Crown Heights at 792

Eastern Parkway Eastern Parkway is a major road that runs through a portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, it was the world's first parkway, having been built between 1870 and 1874. At the time of ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, near

770 Eastern Parkway 770 Eastern Parkway ( yi, 770 איסטערן פארקוויי), also known as "770", is the street address of the World Headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement, located on Eastern Parkway in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, ...

, the headquarters of the Lubavitch movement. Built by architect, Steve H. Wilkowski of Milagros PM, the museum opened in 2004. In 2005, the Museum was among 406

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

arts and social service institutions to receive part of a $20 million grant from the

Carnegie Corporation The Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic fund established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to support education programs across the United States, and later the world. Carnegie Corporation has endowed or otherwise helped to establis ...

, which was made possible through a donation by New York City mayor

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner, co-founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. He was Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a ca ...

History

In response to the infamous

Crown Heights Riot The Crown Heights riot was a race riot that took place from August 19 to August 21, 1991, in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York City. Black residents attacked orthodox Jewish residents, damaged their homes, and looted businesses. Th ...

in 1991 and the terrorist killing of 16-year-old yeshiva student

Ari Halberstam On March 1, 1994, Lebanese-born terrorist Rashid Baz shot at a van of 15 Chabad-Lubavitch Orthodox Jewish students who were traveling on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City, killing one and injuring three others. In 2005, this shooting was r ...

on the

Brooklyn Bridge The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed/ suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River ...

in 1994, the Museum was built to create a teaching tool for local children to better understand their neighbors. Planning for the exhibit content was done with the input of various religious and secular educators, with the final word being made by the Museum's Orthodox Jewish directorate. Community activist

Devorah Halberstam Devorah Halberstam is an American political activist who rose to prominence following the murder of her son Ari in 1994. This has led to recognition and prominence deemed unusual for a Hasidic woman. Several years after the FBI's re-classification ...

, mother of Ari, played a major role in the Museum's creation. The Museum is officially dedicated to Ari's memory. The front of the Museum displays a giant collage of pictures of children. When viewed from a distance they form one giant picture of a child.

Details

* The Jewish Children's Museum was designed by Gwathmey, Siegel and Associates Architects. * The cost of construction has been $35 million thus far, with an additional $5 million projected after the completion of the fourth floor exhibits (expected summer of 2011). * The museum won the Building Brooklyn Award in 2006 for its design and social impact on the greater Brooklyn community. * More than 250,000 visitors came to the JCM in its first year of operation * In addition to its computerized and interactive exhibits, the JCM building includes a Kosher restaurant, Kosher cafe, gift shop, social hall, 100-seat theater, gameshow studio, arts and crafts center and computer rooms.

References

External links

* {{authority control 2004 in Judaism Chabad organizations Children's museums in New York City Crown Heights, Brooklyn Hasidic Judaism in New York City Jewish museums in New York City Jewish youth organizations Museums in Brooklyn Chabad in the United States