The Broward County Library celebrates Jewish American Heritage Month in May with a public display of South Florida Jewish pioneers and events celebrating Jewish American contributions to music and books.
JAHM is a national commemoration of the contributions American Jews have made to the fabric of the nation’s history, culture and society. It was initiated by the Jewish Museum of Florida with the effort led by U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D- Weston ) and enacted by the 109th Congress. Former President George W. Bush signed a resolution in 2006 that each May would be JAHM.
JAHM celebrations taking place at the Broward County‘s main library, 100 S Andrews Ave. in Fort Lauderdale , include a display called Jews of South Florida: A Look At Our Pioneer Jewish Families. This display is expected to go up at the beginning of May and run throughout the rest of the month at the main library. The display features photographs and documents from the Broward County Historical Archives, including the voter registration cards of a local Jewish pioneering family and newspaper photographs of significant events in the local Jewish community.
Barbara Miller, the library’s programming manager, said the goals of this display are “To acquaint the community to some of our Jewish pioneer families that settled in Broward County and helped to develop the community.”
“Some of them started synagogues and helped to start some of the cities and opened stores here. It’s interesting to see some of the original families that were here.”
Miller noted that JAHM is one of the themes that the Broward County Libraries Division is encouraged to observe.
“This gives us a chance to highlight this particular culture as we do for instance in February for Black History Month or in March for Women’s History Month.”
The main library’s JAHM events also include a Jewish Genealogy one on May 21 from 2-3 p.m. on the seventh floor sponsored by Oasis Connections, an evidence-based technology curriculum designed for adult learners. On May 22, Caren Schnur Neile, who teaches storytelling studies at Florida Atlantic University, will present The Great Jewish American Novel from 1:30-3 p.m. Neile, a graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary, will discuss how between 1934 and 2016, Jewish American fiction transformed from a niche activity to some of the most important and celebrated writings in the world. She will explore its changing themes, characters and settings in a presentation that examines the works written by Jewish American novelists such as Saul Bellow, Bernard Malamud, Philip Roth, Michael Chabon and Jonathan Safran Foer.
Neile said, regarding the importance of presenting this program during JAHM, “Jews are known as the people of the book. That is one expression that we’ve been described as and described ourselves as.”
“We are described as the people of the book because of the Bible, the Torah, and so in modern days, we are also the people of the book because we write a lot and we read a lot. Jews are very involved with and connected to literature of all kind, including Jewish American fiction.”
On May 29, the library celebrates the Jewish contribution to American music. From 1-2:30 p.m., author Richie Gerber presents Jews and Jazz when he discusses, through a power point presentation, his book, “Jazz: America’s Gift From Its Birth To George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Beyond.” Books will be for sale. Following Gerber’s presentation, the film “Rhapsody in Blue: The Story of George Gershwin” will be shown from 2:30-4:30 p.m.
“There were a lot of jazz musicians that were pivotal in helping create America’s only original art form, which is jazz, and Jews were a significant part of that and are kind of underappreciated for it my opinion,” Gerber said regarding his upcoming presentation.
Gerber noted that he isn’t minimizing the contributions of other groups and cultures to jazz music in his upcoming presentation.
“America is a great melting pot, and I want to make sure that in that melting pot, the Jewish contribution to jazz is appreciated. I don’t want to take away anything from anybody. I appreciate everyone’s contributions to jazz. I just want to make sure that the Jewish contribution is also added and appreciated.”
Visit broward.org/library or contact Miller at 954-357-7443 or bmiller@broward.org for more information on these events taking place at the main library. The website also includes JAHM celebrations at the other Broward County library branches.