When I first heard about the Children’s Galleries for Jewish Culture, a new museum in Chelsea, I though there was some mistake; Manhattan already has The Jewish Museum, the Museum of Jewish Heritage, and the Yeshiva University Museum. A Jewish Children’s Museum, in Brooklyn, is also under construction. But this thoroughly engaging hands-on museum designed for kids ages 6-12, has indeed quietly opened near Chelsea Piers, where it offers interactive exhibits and drop-in arts and crafts workshops. The Galleries provide a home for the traveling exhibits developed by the Jewish Children’s Learning Lab. One showing, “From Tent to Temple: Life in the Ancient Near East”, was actually at the Yeshiva University Museum in 2000, and has recently traveled to the Jewish Museum of Baltimore; it will return in September. This exhibit offers glimpses of Biblical ways of gathering and cooking food, building shelter and dressing; kids can grind grain and hunt with a wooden bow and plastic arrows. They can also build a mud house, a ziggurat (or temple), weave, and go on an archeological dig through sand. The other exhibit, “From Home to Home: Jewish Immigration to America”, has a scale where kids can weigh reasons for and against moving; there are other modern-day life concerns: a bigger house, a backyard, getting a dog. Kids can listen to German Jews discussing the pros and cons of leaving their homes in 1935. They may even get a better understanding of why so many Jews decided not to leave; there is also a game where they can listen to the arguments intently, and insert tangible reasons — they are written out on blocks —for and against leaving. Children can also pack trunks with a variety of objects, deciding what is important to take, and what can be left behind. My children, ages 9 and 11, used doll furniture to figure out how to cram a family of 10 into a 400-square-foot apartment, and worked together to create a neighborhood of house, shops and roads. The content in the museum is curriculum-based; the area where you get the chance to create a democratic community is particularly provocative. Here, children have the opportunity to discuss the needs and priorities of the different members of the community. Even reading stories about Golda Meir and I. B. Singer is hands-on; kids turn dowels, which resemble Torah scrolls, to advance the stories. Although families whose ancestors came from eastern Europe will feel a particular affinity at this museum, the exhibits are not only for Jews, and the content is definitely non-religious. In one area, kids can Americanize objects, placing a Yankees logo on a cap for example; in another, they can see how Yiddish expressions have become commonplace. There is a mini-supermarket, where kids have to decode symbols to figure out what’s what; their confusion echoes an immigrant’s confusion with a strange alphabet. There is a changing selection of arts and crafts programs on Sundays, which may include making comics, dioramas or photo albums. There are also special holiday programs; the focus is on Purim, March 9 and 16, and Passover, April 13 and 20. There is even a special event, April 21, where kids can illustrate the story of Passover and make Elijah cups. There is also a Purim play, March 16, at 11am, and a freedom celebration, April 20, at 11am; tickets to these two programs are $8 per person and include admission to the exhibitions along with afternoon crafts programs. Reservations are required. Unlike most museums, the Children’s Galleries for Jewish Culture doesn’t have a gift shop, or a snack bar, or even a place to eat. This can be good and bad; not every trip to a museum needs to culminate in a souvenir. But if you need to eat, Chelsea Market is nearby, at Ninth Avenue, between 15th and 16th Streets. This is a great place for indoor foraging; soup from Hale and Hearty, sushi from the Lobster Box, a sandwich from Amy’s Bread. We conducted a non-scientific sampling of sweets from Amy’s (best selection) to Sarabeth’s (most refined), to Fat Witch Brownies (best name); the peanut butter brownie from the latter was the overall winner.
Info: Where: 515 West 20th Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues, Suite 4E When: Sunday, 2pm-5pm; check the website for special holiday hours How much: $5 person For further info: (212) 924-4500; www.jcllcm.com Note: While children under 6 can enjoy many aspects of the exhibits, remember that strollers are not permitted, nor is eating or drinking in the galleries.
