Celebrating the Jewish New Year with a fundraising match

Image: Artist unknown. New Year’s postcard, 20th century. Print on card. 76.242.2

I love that the Jewish New Year coincides with the start of a new school year. Both begin with feelings of excitement and promise for the new year ahead and simultaneously invite self-reflection and community participation. 

I find myself reflecting on my first several months at The Magnes and feeling proud of the work our team has accomplished. We have just opened Cities and Wars: Roman Vishniac in Berlin and Jerusalem 1947/1967, a thought-provoking exhibition featuring rarely seen photographs from the Roman Vishniac Archive. We have extended our public hours and are bringing on new staff so we can improve and expand access to the collections through new exhibitions, digital initiatives, and creative public and academic programming. And through our Community Conversations series, I have had the pleasure and privilege of getting to know friends and supporters of The Magnes, including donors, former staffers and volunteers, campus colleagues and students, and invested community members. 

The most exciting part of my new role at The Magnes is creating opportunities to bring people together using the museum’s incredible collections. My colleagues and I have the joy of facilitating experiences that connect visitors with the vibrancy and rich history of Jewish life around the world. Our work not only allows people to celebrate their Jewish identities and deepen their knowledge about Jewish studies, but also contributes to antisemitism education by offering complex, research-driven narratives that invite discourse.

I invite you to join us in creating those experiences by making a gift to The Magnes’s Annual Fund.

As further inspiration to support The Magnes in 2023, Magnes Supporter Vallery Feldman has generously offered to match gifts made during this High Holiday season, up to $5,000. 

Both of my parents attended medical school in Shanghai during WWII. When I discovered that The Magnes has collections related to Jews in China going back at least to the nineteenth century, it seemed like a perfect fit for my parents’ documents. The Magnes fulfills its mission of imparting Jewish history to future generations.

— Vallery Feldman, Leadership Circle Donor

Your support will help us present new research in Jewish studies through exhibitions and programs, foster dialogue between visitors, host classes in our study center, and create space for people of all backgrounds to learn, reflect, and be inspired.

I thank you for your past support and hope to see you soon at The Magnes.

L’Shana tova,

Hannah Weisman
Executive Director
The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life