Jewish-American Hall of Fame Plaques Featured in The Impact of Jewish Intellect Exh

ibit at Virginia Holocaust Museum

The Jewish-American Hall of Fame plaques will form The Impact of Jewish Intellect
on America and the World exhibit, that will ask the provocative question What If?
--What contributions to mankind might have been made by the 6 million Jews kille
d in the Holocaust or their descendants? What if one of the murdered millions ha
d discovered a cure for cancer, HIV/AIDS or Alzheimer s? Would fossil fuels have b
ecome obsolete had an alternative been discovered by one of the Jewish children
exterminated by the Nazis?
Richmond, VA - April 28, 2010 -- When Mel Wacks launched The Jewish-American Hal
l of Fame medals in 1969, he also had a dream that someday there would be an act
ual Jewish-American Hall of Fame. exhibit in a museum. And so, each year he had
a bronze reproduction made from the artist s large original plaster models, and mo
unted on a walnut board. It was not until a decade later, that some of these pla
ques were first displayed at the Magnes Museum in Berkeley, California. But the
exhibit ended over ten years ago when the Magnes briefly merged with the San Fra
ncisco Jewish Museum--and the plaques were relegated to the storage area. All of
The Jewish-American Hall of Fame. plaques were exhibited for the first time in
2008, at the Washington DC headquarters of B nai B rith International, but this disp
lay was not open to the public.
Wacks relates, But just as the Jews wandered in the desert for 40 years before fi
nding the Promised Land, The Jewish-American Hall of Fame had to wait 40 years b
efore it found a permanent home. This came about when Mel read an article about H
olocaust survivor Jay Ipson founding the Virginia Holocaust Museum in Richmond.
Mel called up Jay, they chatted, and Mel threw out the idea of permanently exhib
iting The Jewish-American Hall of Fame plaques in the Museum. Jay made the 2-hou
r train trip to Washington, visited the exhibit at B nai B rith, and said Yes.
The Jewish-American Hall of Fame plaques will form The Impact of Jewish Intellect
on America and the World exhibit, that will ask the provocative question What If?
--What contributions to mankind might have been made by the 6 million Jews kille
d in the Holocaust or their descendants? What if one of the murdered millions ha
d discovered a cure for cancer, HIV/AIDS or Alzheimer s? Would fossil fuels have b
ecome obsolete had an alternative been discovered by one of the Jewish children
exterminated by the Nazis? This display will complement another new exhibit entit
led Those People, created by California-based artist Esther Glina Montagner, consi
sting of suitcases bearing the names of family members who disappeared in the nig
ht and fog of the Holocaust. This moving artistic statement also begs the questio
n of What If . What if Montagner s family and countless others had been permitted to
find refuge in America? How might the world have been different?
The beginning of the The Impact of Jewish Intellect exhibit features the Emma Laza
rus plaque, along with her sonnet The New Colossus, including the immortal words
"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Wal
king down a corridor, visitors will view plaques pertaining to The Jewish Presen
ce in Early America, followed by In Defense of Liberty, Righteousness, Righteous
ness Shall You Pursue, and then a rotating group that features members of the en
tertainment industry.
The Jewish Presence in Early America. the Jews Who Helped Columbus (Don Isaac Ab
ravanel, Luis Santangel and Abraham Zacuto), Asser Levy & the First Jewish Settl
ers in America (1654), and the Touro Synagogue (founded 1763). In Defense of Lib
erty features Navy Commodore Uriah P. Levy (1792-1862), Civil War Congressional
Medal recipient Leopold Karpeles (1838-1909), major league baseball player and s
py Moe Berg (1902-1972), and World War II Flying Ace Robert Rosie Rosenthal (1917-
2008). Righteousness, Righteousness Shall You Pursue celebrates educator Rebecca
Gratz (1781-1869), fighter for women s rights Ernestine Rose (1810-1892), pediatr
ician Bela Schick (1877-1967), physicist & universal advocate of peace Albert Ei
nstein (1879-1955), discoverer of the Polio vaccine Jonas Salk (1914-1995), foun
der of the visiting nurse service Lillian Wald (1867-1940), Supreme Court Justic
es Louis Brandeis (1856-1941) and Benjamin Cardozo (1870-1938), Labor Union pion
eers Samuel Gompers (1850-1924) and Sidney Hillman (1887-1946), public servant H
erbert Lehman (1878-1963), and the eloquent humanist Elie Wiesel (born 1928). Th
e rotating gallery features stars of the entertainment world: composers Irving B
erlin (1888-1989) and George Gershwin (1898-1937), musical virtuosos Benny Goodm
an (1909-1986) and Isaac Stern (1920-2001), maestro Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990
), performers Milton Berle and Barbra Streisand (born 1942), and playwright Arth
ur Miller (1915-2005). The Impact of Jewish Intellect display will culminate wit
h the 2010 Jewish-American Hall of Fame honoree Barney Ross (1909-1967), three-t
ime boxing champion and heroic silver star recipient.
The series of plaques composing the permanent exhibit, The Impact of Jewish Intel
lect on America and the World will stand in stark juxtaposition to another new ex
hibit the Museum will also dedicate on May 16th. Entitled Those People and created
by California-based artist Esther Glina Montagner, the exhibit consists of suit
cases bearing the name of a family member who disappeared in the night and fog of
the Holocaust. This moving artistic statement truly begs the question of What If .
What if Montagner s family and countless others had been permitted to find refuge
in America? How might the world have been different?
The public is invited to the opening day festivities beginning at 2:00 PM on Sun
day, May 16th at the Virginia Holocaust Museum, 2000 East Carry Street, Richmond
, VA 23223. Speakers will include Jay Ipson, Founder and Executive Director of V
irginia Holocaust Museum; Dr. Simon P. Sibelman, Assistant Executive Director of
the Museum; and Mel Wacks, Founder and Director of The Jewish-American Hall of
Fame. The Museum s regular hours are 9-5 Monday-Friday, and 11-5 Saturday-Sunday;
admission is free. For further information visit www.va-holocaust.com or www.amu
seum.org/jahf.
Contact:
Mel Wacks
The Jewish-American Hall of Fame
Richmond, VA
United States of America
818-225-1348
directorjahf@yahoo.com
http://www.amuseum.org/jahf
Jewish, Hall of Fame, Museum, Jewish Intellect