Representatives of the Museum at Eldridge Street and the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews have an online panel discussion about the life and legacy of historic synagogues in New York and Poland.
This panel will explore commonalities and differences in how historic synagogues are preserved and transformed on both sides of the Atlantic. What were these synagogues like in their golden years, what remains of them today, and what does the future hold?
Registration for this Zoom program is pay-what-you-wish.
Meet the Panelists:
Professor Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett is the Ronald S. Lauder Chief Curator of the Core Exhibition at POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw and University Professor Emerita of Performance Studies at New York University. Her books include They Called Me Mayer July: Painted Memories of Jewish Life in Poland Before the Holocaust (with Mayer Kirshenblatt) and Image Before My Eyes: A Photographic History of Jewish Life in Poland, 1864–1939 (with Lucjan Dobroszycki), among others. She has received honorary doctorates from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, the University of Haifa, and Indiana University. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, decorated with the Officer’s Cross of the Order of the Republic of Poland for her contribution to the creation of POLIN Museum, and received the 2020 Dan David Prize. She has served on Advisory Boards for the Council of American Jewish Museums, Jewish Museum Vienna, and Jewish Museum Berlin, and is Vice-Chair of ICMEMOHRI, the International Committee of Memorial and Human Rights Museums. She advises on museum and exhibition projects in Lithuania, Belarus, Albania, Israel, New Zealand, and the United States.
Joanna Fikus is a graduate of the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Warsaw. She has been affiliated with the Museum of the History of Polish Jews POLIN since 2005, where she served as the coordinator of the core exhibition planning team. Since 2017, she has been the Head of the Exhibition Department at POLIN Museum. Joanna is also the Deputy Chairwoman of the Board of the Jewish Historical Institute Association and the Chairwoman of its Grants Committee. Additionally, she is a member of the Founders Council of the Jewish Community Center Warsaw and a board member of the Association of European Jewish Museums.
Scott Brevda is Deputy Director for Education and Accessibility with the Museum at Eldridge Street. As a historian, museum educator, and lifelong New Yorker, Scott loves to bring the history of his native city to life. In his current position at the Museum, Scott leads, coordinates, and develops education and accessibility programming and special public programs. Scott was formerly a Senior Educator at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum and holds a B.A. and M.A. in History from Fordham University.
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