Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU

The lady who works there spend so much time with me and my daughter, telling us stories and showing us the history of this beautiful museum and the Jewish community in south beach.

During my recent visit to the Jewish Museum of Florida, I was pleasantly surprised by the depth and richness of the exhibits, which offer a comprehensive look into the Jewish community and their significant influence in shaping Miami. One of the most enlightening aspects of my visit was learning about the percentage of Jewish people in Miami and their cultural impact on the city. A highlight of my experience was interacting with Howard, a staff member who passionately described Miami’s history and architecture, with a particular focus on the Jewish community. Howard’s knowledge and enthusiasm significantly enhanced my visit, making the museum not just an educational experience but also a personal journey through the city’s Jewish heritage. While the museum does an excellent job of presenting historical and cultural information, I believe there’s room for improvement. Adding more sculptures and interactive elements could enrich the experience, offering a more dynamic and engaging way to connect with the exhibits.

⭐ Came for a museum, stayed confused. If you’re in the mood for dim lighting, confusing layouts, and the overwhelming scent of missed potential, look no further! The Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU delivers an experience that’s… well, let’s just say “unique.” Exhibits? Yes, technically. But most look like they were curated during a coffee break. A few plaques here, a dusty photo there, and suddenly—boom!—history. Or at least that’s the idea. Want context, storytelling, or a flow that makes sense? That’s adorable. The staff were present, possibly in spirit. I wasn’t sure whether to ask a question or just apologize for interrupting their important staring contest with the front desk. And let’s talk ambiance—nothing says “heritage” quite like flickering lights and display cases that feel like they were salvaged from a flea market clearance bin. A museum experience so underwhelming, I left more curious about how they stayed open than about anything I actually saw. One star, for existing. Barely.

The Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU is a museum that preserves Florida Jewish history, culture, and art.

A really great place which i absolutely recommend to visit in Miami Beach (and i'm not even jewish 😅). A nice lady accompanied me to the starting point and introduced me in some interesting facts. A really interesting and informative museum about Jewish history (and also some other side facts).

I visited the JMF recently while on vacation in Florida. I live in Wisconsin but I emigrated to the US from Baghdad, Iraq in 2016. I was raised Muslim, but recently discovered my father’s family was Jewish. I am very interested in learning more about that part of my heritage. This museum is so beautiful and very informative. It really had an impact on me. Learning the history of the Jews in Miami was so moving and haunting. I highly recommend visiting this wonderful place. ❤️✡️

Wonderful museum with an incredible tour guide when we were there. The inside of the museum was beautiful, and has many wonderful exhibits on the Jewish history of Florida.

Had a nice, intimate free tour with one of the docents. Very cool impermanent exhibits. The space is well preserved and taken care of. Thought the gift shop could have more art pertaining to the exhibits. $8 student entrance fee, $12 regular fee.

We drove to Miami to visit this museum. The museum is small, consisting of two synagogue buildings. The guide leader. However, was amazing. The leader, Reggie, was a treasure trove of historical information, very warm and personable, and funny at times. I most definitely recommend a visit here.

I had wanted to visit this museum for some time. The day I went they had an architectural talk. I figured I'd do both. To my surprise there was a 2nd talk about Jewish settlers in South Beach. Both were very interesting. I really liked the museum as well, lots of interesting items on display. The building is an old synagogue. They also had an art display. Saturdays it's free and it's a great location for a walk afterwards.

Howard and Harvey both great people there really showed me so much history in Miami I really appreciated it

Big shoutout and thanks to Eva who gave us a mini guided tour in the beginning and welcomed us to this beautiful museum. Loved the Arnold Newman photography exhibit of major Jewish artists, writers, actors, politicians. The mezuzah exhibit was the highlight, featuring beautiful , colorful mezuzahs from all over the world, and explaining the meaning behind them. Spend an hour and a half here, Saturdays are free, and leave a generous donation. Florida is lucky to have you. 5 stars!!!!

Beautiful museum with some awesome exhibits on the Jewish history of Florida. Great bits of Jewish history on the entire state from down here in South Florida to my hometown of Jacksonville (surprisingly a lot of stuff on Jax!) and everywhere in between. We had Harry Z, a wonderful tour guide inside, giving us a wealth of knowledge about the state.

"Without a doubt, it was a truly fantastic experience! Our tour guide, a knowledgeable Jewish volunteer, took us on a captivating journey that revealed the fascinating history of how the Jewish community settled in Miami. She also provided us with a concise yet comprehensive explanation of the evolution of Jewish culture. It's safe to say that we left the museum with an incredible wealth of knowledge!"

Nice place to visit if you are interested in the Jewish history of Miami and seeing an old synagogue. Paid street parking nearby. You can get through in 90 minutes or less if you are moving quickly. It was under $10 and worth it. Close to the beach and some of the art deco hotels on Ocean drive. Very nice staff and you get a little guided tour to start with, explaining the items and what you are getting to see. There are numerous pieces on display and some traveling items as well. Right now there a display of several Yads.

Hubby and I had a wonderful experience. The building itself was a synagogue. The docents are excellent. We took the walking tour with Howard Brayer. Tour was given on a Sunday morning at 11am. You will need to check the tour schedule from the museum website. Howard did a wonderful job. He carried along some old photos of many of the buildings and photos of relevant people. He took us into the Lord Balfour Hotel lobby during the tour to take a look and to give us some info. We are seniors and he was mindful of our slower walking pace. It was well worth the 1 hr 15 minutes drive from Boynton Beach,

Great little museum. Loved learning about the local Jewish history. It would be great to have more on the Sephardic immigration.

Fascinating museum full of history and character. I learned so much from the included tour.

This place look stunning. I went to the museum alone. There was a nice guide that join me and explain me a bout the place and history. Gave me a drink. Let me feel like at home. Tere are alot of pieces from the history of the people of florida. Very interesting! I have a lot of information.

Interesting, captivating, lovely, and inspiration museum! Its definitely a hidden gem in south beach. If you have a passion for history and politics I would recommend stopping by. It's only $5 dollars for students!

Not the best museum ever but enjoyed ourselves. It's small. But it's in an old synagogue which is cool because there is the original windows and one of the original pews. Florida Jewish history and basic Jewish info. Very nice staff. Reasonable entry fee. Small parking lot in the back.

Just visiting Miami beach and noticed a lot of Jewish people in this area so we thought it would be neat to learn the history. Got to see an exhibit brought in from Iraq that was interesting . Very good tour guide who explained and answered all our questions. It's worth six bucks to see this museum.

If you're a resident of Miami Beach, Florida, you have undoubtedly noticed its large Jewish population. You may be curious to learn about this large segment of our population, and what better way than to visit the Jewish Museum of Florida. Considering it is free and close to South Pointe Park (another popular South Beach destination), you really have no excuse. What makes the museum even more interesting is the fact that it is housed in two restored historic buildings that were formerly synagogues, at 301 & 311 Washington Ave., in Miami Beach, Florida. The main Museum building, at 301 Washington Ave., was built in 1936 and features Art Deco influences, a beautiful copper dome with the Star of David on top, a marble bimah and 80 stained glass windows. The adjacent building located at 311 Washington, which served as Miami Beach's first synagogue holds a museum expansion. The main exhibit about Jewish life in Florida includes more than 500 photos and artifacts that depict the Jewish experience in Florida since 1763. The Museum also has several temporary exhibits on display each year. The museum is home to many Holocaust artifacts and objects, photographs, documents, and religious objects and mounts and hosts its own and traveling exhibitions. There are volunteers on site that work in the gift shop and are happy to provide an informative tour experience. Linda, who happens to be Jewish, approached and offered a free tour, which I happily accepted, and she became my guide. She did a great job of explaining the exhibits and throwing in her own personal anecdotes and viewpoints. She is a very friendly, fun lady. Although I was aware that Jews faced ostracism, I was not aware of the fact that it was on par with what the African-Americans experienced. This is the reason why the synagogue was built at Washington Avenue, at the time it was built, Jews were concentrated in the south end of the city, due to restrictions on where they could reside. Prior to this, Jews had been denied permission to construct a synagogue. They had to ferry across Biscayne Bay to attend religious services at B'nai Zion Congregation in Miami. Almost every Jew who was a permanent resident of Miami Beach between 1927 and 1932 was a member and financial contributor to the synagogue. An infamous contributor was Meyer Lansky of Mafia fame, known as the "Mob's Accountant". He is so famous, in fact, that there is a stained glass window in his name, thanks to his generous contributions. Another major contributor is former Miss America Bess Myerson, after whom a small, brightly-lit café connecting the two synagogues is named. I got to learn about a lot of historical and political figures that were Jewish, as well as sports figures, like Dara Torres, the Jews' arrival to the U.S., the Jewbans (a rather large community in Miami), and the history behind building Mount Sinai Hospital. In the other building were photographs of former Beth Jacob members, who eventually died off as time went on. There was also movie propaganda and posters, as well as historical articles related in some form or other to Nazism, Hitler, or Judaism. Did you know Charlie Chaplin was Jewish? How about the Three Stooges? As I said, very informative. I had a great time photographing the building, both inside and out, and learning about many things. Highly recommended for historical and educational value and considering it is free, the better question is, why would you NOT go?

Wow! I went here to see a fashion exhibit on Saturday. When I arrived, I was told the fashion exhibit had ended weeks ago. Terribly disappointed, I figured I'd look around at least. The tour guide Linda offered to give me a personal tour. I didn't want to spend a lot of time, so I was apprenhsove, but said yes to be polite. And wow!! I had a fabulous time! I learned so much about the Jewish culture I had never known. What a remarkable storyteller Linda is. You must go and have the tour ! You will enjoy the museum of which also features contemporary artworks. Eva and Linda will greet you and they are simply wonderful! Enjoy.

A fantastic museum in a fantastic setting. I've been to Jewish museums all over the world, but this one is really well done. A lot of Jewish museums tend to be what I call 'repositories for Jewish stuff': "Here's what yarmulkes looks like. See, we have a whole display of them. And, oh look, a Seder plate!" That's all well and good if you know next to nothing about Judaism. But for the rest of us, it's just a little boring. This museum is less about Judaism in general, and more about this history of Jews in Florida specifically -- which is really cool because that's something that would otherwise be hard to learn about. Anyway, I just feel like they hit the right balance between "Intro to Judaism for the Gentile" and the history of the Jewish community in this specific location. For me, the latter is a lot more interesting ... and not just because I happen to be one of the Jews they're talking about. Right now, they have a special exhibit on Jewish delis. I remember many of them well. I hadn't seen a real Rascal House menu since I was a little kid! Oh, and be sure to look for the Meyer Lansky window on the south side of the building! One minor annoyance worth mention: We watched a film on the history of Miami Beach. Some of the content was interesting, but the production value was absolutely horrible (seriously, even I'm a better narrator than the loser in the film!) and at times the film sounded more like an infomercial than a documentary. Yes, I know that a museum like this one relies on corporate sponsorship to defray the costs of production. And I appreciate the willingness of the Museum's neighbors to help. But I long for the days when the only recompense a business asked for was a "Made possible by the generous support of ..."-byline in the credits. In this case, the tit-for-tat was obvious, ostentatious, and over-the-top. Shande!

I was bored one day and saw that the museum had an exhibit on Cuban Jews in Miami so I decided to check it out. There is an old couple that volunteer there, who are both very nice except the old man kept forgetting who I was every time he saw me and would start the same intro speech. The museum was the first synagogue in South Florida, now converted into a museum. The museum itself show cases on Jews in Europe to involvement in US history (wars, etc), and in South Florida. It's interesting the first 15 minutes but after the first exhibition, I got bored and skipped to the Cuban exhibit which unfortunately wasn't much better - basically just photos of Cuban Jews and little blurbs about the community. The museum was free to enter and free parking lot on the side. If you have nothing better to do, sure check it out, but don't plan on spending more than 30 minutes there.

A very good visit while you are in South Beach if you are Jewish or fond of the Jewish story in America. Don't be offended if you have to go through a metal detector before entering, it's just a precaution against those who might do harm. The displays are nice but not flashy. A very nice place to see the Jews in Florida story. They really have contributed to the area.

Informative exhibits and lovely people. Our docent was so generous with her time. Thank you for this gem of a museum!

This Jewish Museum was made by connecting two synagogues. The exhibits were not exciting but at the same time they were fascinating. It's a quick stop but worth it. They explored how the Jews made it to Florida.

Interesting and educational, the tour and exhibits where great for the whole family. The museum is broken up into different segment, making visitors excited to move to the next part. I only wish that the art in the middle was not art donated by Jewish families, but was by Jewish artists. From there we went around the corner to the Big Pink which turned out to be very good food!

This museum is a hidden gem. We recently visited while in the Miami area. A great deal of thought clearly went into the displays, which were both informative and very interesting. If you have any interest in Jewish history and culture, this is a must-see destination.

I was actually photographing the parrots, who were hanging out in the trees outside. True story. I came back on Saturday, and took a complimentary tour. The tour guide was personable and well informed about Jewish history in Florida. The story of the HMS St. Louis was heartbreaking. I enjoyed learning some of the more personal details of the synagogue's history. This synagogue was known as the " gangster shul, " because of the criminals who decided to spend Shabbat service there. The synagogue is simplistic and beautiful. The stories of perseverance and determination to start over, after losing everything-- is amazing proof that God hasn't forgotten them. Resilience is a gift. I highly recomment a visit to this tiny piece of history, and accept the encouragement in their stories of survival.