Arts & Entertainment
MAKING HISTORY
A Motown Touch In Philly
Former Detroiter Michael Rosenzweig helms
National Museum of American Jewish History.
Suzanne Chessler
Special to the Jewish News
D
isplays at the National Museum of
American Jewish History awaken
memories of family stories and
personal experiences important to Michael
Rosenzweig, museum president and CEO,
who grew up in Michigan.
Most dramatic for the museum
leader, son of the late Felix and Frances
Rosenzweig, is a visit to the third floor,
where the depiction of immigration
between 1880 and World War II reminds
him of his father's background surviving
the Holocaust and coming to America.
"The way we address the immigrant
experience is very vivid and real: says
Rosenzweig, 58, who lived in Detroit, Oak
Park, Southfield and Ann Arbor. "There's
an interactive station with a touch-screen
computer to simulate what immigrants
went through at Ellis Island.
"Instead of describing the Ellis Island
experience with text on a wall or panel, we
invite visitors to assume the identity of one
of four immigrants. They go through the
same battery of questions and are funneled
in one direction or another depending on
their answers."
On the second floor, Rosenzweig is
moved by films of 13 architecturally iconic
synagogues across the country and knows
well what is being shown in the segment
about Congregation Shaarey Zedek in
Southfield, part of an exhibit on Jewish sub-
urban neighborhoods where the synagogue
emerged as both the center for individual
Jewish identity as well as an important
social center for the community. The muse-
um sent out film crews and interviewed
people involved in the construction of each
building.
Going to the first level of the museum,
which holds the Only in America Gallery/
Hall of Fame to recognize American
Jews with far-reaching accomplishments,
Rosenzweig notes that polio vaccine devel-
oper Jonas Salk is among 18 represented in
film and with artifacts. Salk worked at the
University of Michigan, where Rosenzweig
earned his bachelor's degree before gradu-
ating from Columbia Law School in 1976.
"We thought visitors would spend 21/2
to three hours in the museum, but, on aver-
age, they are spending well over four hours':
Rosenzweig says. "Ultimately, we want to
educate, and we're very conscious that we're
the only museum that is telling in breadth
and depth the history of American Jews
from 1654 to the present.
"My mandate is to make the museum a
center of Jewish education and a significant
Jewish cultural center, where we have an
ongoing series of world-class Jewish cul-
tural programs."
Rosenzweig can look back on a career
that has involved considerable teach-
ing. After practicing law in Atlanta for a
few years, he taught law at the University
of Michigan from 1979-1987. He then
returned to private practice as a corporate
and securities lawyer in Atlanta for some
20 years. Most recently, he served as senior
vice president for corporate development
and general counsel for a large Denver-
based building materials company.
"All along, I was very involved in Jewish
communal life," says Rosenzweig, who
began working for the museum in
April 2009, overseeing the completion
and opening of the facility "I founded
a day school in Atlanta and did a fair
amount of fundraising in the Jewish
community. I go to Israel usually every
year.
NMAJH President and CEO Michael
"After I left my position as general
Rosenzweig in front of a gallery that explores
counsel, I made a decision that I want- the post-World War II synagogue boom.
ed to do something different. I heard
Over his left shoulder is a photograph of
about the museum when it was under Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield.
construction, and I discovered the
museum board was very interested in
figure to American Jews, and for me,
as a Detroiter, particularly important':
hiring somebody from the business world
who could bring an understanding of for-
Rosenzweig says. "We have pictures of him,
profit practices."
and we have him on film. One of his bats is
Rosenzweig, who graduated from
on display"
Southfield High School in 1970, had
With the museum opened only recently,
his religious training at Adat Shalom
Rosenzweig is pleased that some 300
groups already are planning travel visits to
Synagogue, where he celebrated his bar
mitzvah. He is married to Shelli Bank,
tour the facility.
a pediatric radiologist who graduated
"I view the museum and the exhibition
as organic and evolving': Rosenzweig says.
from Southfield-Lathrup High School, the
University of Michigan and Albert Einstein
"The principal goal is to make it a national-
College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in destination museum that happens to be
New York City.
appropriately located in Philadelphia.
"I say appropriately because the story we
The Rosenzweigs have two sons: Zachary,
a 2008 Brandeis graduate now working
tell is about freedom. It's about what one
as a campus communications director for
immigrant group is able to achieve given
the blessings of freedom we enjoy in this
AIPAC in Washington, D.C., and Nathaniel,
a Brown University senior.
country.
"We want to make it compelling and
While skiing is a favorite family activity,
Rosenzweig maintains a strong interest in
interesting for non-Jews as well because we
believe the story we tell is quite universal.
baseball as a loyal Tigers fan.
Here, too, the museum has special con-
The reasons Jews came to this country and
the experiences American Jews have had
nections for him. While Dodger Sandy
in this country are not so different from
Koufax is in the Only in America Gallery/
Hall of Fame, Tiger legend Hank Greenberg non-Jewish ethnic groups seeking the same
things: religious liberty and economic
is referenced in other areas.
opportunity."
"Hank Greenberg is a very important
❑
Ws
Nate Bloom
*mai Special to the Jewish News
Grit Saddles Up
A remake of True Grit, the hit 1969
(1)western starring John Wayne,
i)
m opened Dec. 22. Directed by the
Coen brothers (Ethan and Joel), the
remake stars Jeff
Bridges as Rooster
Cogburn, a drunken
U.S. Marshal who
is hired by Mattie,
a 14-year-old girl,
to hunt down her
father's murderer,
Tom Chaney (Josh
Hailee
Brolin). A young
Steinfeld
T
30
December 23 • 2010
Texas Ranger (Matt Damon) joins
them in the hunt for Chaney.
Hailee Steinfeld, 14, plays Mattie.
She won the role via a videotape
audition. In a nationwide search,
15,000 other young actresses also
submitted tapes for the role. This is
Hailee's first feature film.
Born and raised in Southern
California, Hailee's Jewish father
is personal trainer Peter Steinfeld.
He is the brother of famous fit-
ness guru Jake Steinfeld. Hailee's
mother, who is of mixed white,
Filipino and African-American ances-
try, isn't Jewish. As of press time, I
was unable to find out if Hailee was
raised in any faith.
Kennedy Center Honors
Each year, the Kennedy Center in
Washington, D.C., holds a gala to
honor five artists for lifetime achieve-
ments. The gala was held earlier this
month and will be broadcast on CBS 9
p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 28.
This year's award recipients are
country singer Merle Haggard, talk-
show host Oprah
Winfrey, dancer-
choreographer Bill
T. Jones, musician
Paul McCartney and
Broadway composer
Jerry Herman, 79,
who is most famous
for writing the music
Jerry Herman
and lyrics for Hello, Dolly and La Cage
aux Folles. One of his lesser known, but
well-respected, musicals is Milk and
Honey, a 1961 show about a busload of
Jewish widows who tour Israel with an
eye towards catching a new husband.
McCartney is not Jewish, but his
late wife, Linda Eastman, was. Since
2007, McCartney has been dating
Jewish businesswoman Nancy Shevell
(who is journalist Barbara Walters'
second cousin). McCartney defied
many when he played Israel in 2008.
Bill T. Jones is African-American
and not Jewish. His life partner, and
the co- founder of his dance com-
pany, was Jewish dancer Arnie Zane
(1947-1988). ❑