Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience

Great little place detailing the history of Jewish life in the South. Essentially, three rooms, but plenty there. Includes Sephardic and Ashkenazi migrations. Integration into Southern life and contrasted with antisemitic experiences. Recommended

I visited this museum this past weekend with my husband and friend. Based on a few negative reviews I was skeptical, but overall the reviews were great. I’m so glad we went! As someone stated, yes compared to other museums it may be small, but every museum can’t be like the MET! Although “small”, it’s small, but mighty. There is sooo much history! The exhibits were displayed very nicely. I surprised to see so much history from small towns that I have personally visited. The director was very nice and engaging. I wish we had more time, but I tried to take pics of what I missed to read later. My friend wasn’t interested I the museum at first,but ended up loving it! My husband and I love history and this was a great experience for us. Also, I loved the postcard experience at the end!

If you want to learn about Jewish history in the southern states - this is the right address. Pretty cool for a local museum. Worth a visit

We visited the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience and found it to be a very well done museum with interesting content. After entering we watched a short film that we found to be well done. After watching the film we walked through several galleries, each depicting a different topic. The staff is always close by and eager to answer any question. For us this was a truly enjoyable experience.

We loved the museum. It was beautiful, had a lot of great informative content and installations, including videos and photos. The third floor had an amazing orphanage exhibit. I highly recommend visiting it if you are ever in NOLA. We were glad we had a chance to see it.

Amazing amazing museum that surpassed my expectations! This place has been on my list since it first opened a few years ago and it was incredible. The exhibits were laid out in a great way and I learned so much about Judaism in early America which is so hard to find information online about. I appreciated how the Holocaust section wasn’t only focused on Jewish suffering and gore and rather the full lives that some survivors got to live. Everyone should come here even if you’re not Jewish to learn about such an under-discussed part of history.

New Orleans is the second-largest port in the United States, serving as a gateway for a rich diversity of cultures. Among them were the Jewish immigrants who arrived for a better life. Committed to their new city, they made significant contributions. If you’re interested in learning about their journey, struggles, and accomplishments of the Southern Jews, be sure to visit the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience.

Really enjoyed my visit. I appreciated the fact that the museum does not gloss over the uglier bits of our history. But for the most part, it tells a really great story of resilience and hard work. And I couldn't leave without a Shalom Y'all tshirt.

When visiting a new City, I often seek out a local Jewish Museum (or Deli) as I'm drawn to our multi-faceted culture/religion and the associated history. Before visiting NOLA, my last experience was the South Africa Jewish Museum in Johannesburg. And although Gayle would have preferred a visit to the nearby WW2 museum, I deeply appreciate that my dear Wife knows that my Jewish identity is important, especially since October 7. MSJE is a cool little museum that honors the settlement, growth, and life of the Jewish Community in the Southern States. The Museum is easily traversed in about an hour and consists of 3 main sections: Early settlement and life (including small towns), religious objects and practices, and modern influences. Of course there's a Holocaust section, as there is a very interesting one on the Civil Rights era. NOLA is covered well, but I appreciated the regional approach provided. The 8 minute film is also worth your time. My only quibble was the "Women of Valor display that was missing the one and only Florence Kusnetz. MSJE also has a nice gift shop of which I snagged a mezuzah made from a Bourbon barrel and crafted by...the BourbonRabbi. Gayle and I had a fabulous time here and I learned some new things, particularly regarding my previous southern Jewish community experiences in New Orleans, Houston, Baton Rouge, College Station, Austin, and Mobile.

This is such a well done museum. Fascinating presentation of how Jews came to and settled in the south from centuries ago to more recent. The exhibits are clear and we truly appreciated the museum. We went on a Thursday morning in May. There were a few others there but not crowded. Parking near by on the street was easy.

Time very well spent. This is a beautiful telling of the experience of the Jews of the southern states from 16th century to the present. Covers the highs and lows of the experience as well as the story of the broader fight for civil rights. For Jews and others visiting NOLA - Highly recommended.

Fun museum. You don't have to be Jewish to find it interesting. SJE doesn't try to be comprehensive. If you're looking for a no-stone-left-unturned museum go up the street to the WW2 museum. But it does place the Southern Jewish experience in context from colonial times to the present. And there's a strong focus on the small towns across the South where a Jewish merchant set up shop and tried to fit in asa small minority among Christian neighbors and customers. There's data and there are individual stories that make the data relatable. While this is a Jewish museum founded and run by Jews, the SJE doesn't shy away from unpleasant facts: 25% of Jews in the South before the Civil Wars were enslavers. And plenty of Southerners fought for the Confederacy. And while SHE details Jews who battled for equal rights in the 1960s and 70s, the museum notes that the overwhelming majority "sat on the side lines." The rotating exhibit is about Rosenwald schools in the South. Don't miss it. This didn't get taught at the religious school at my synagogue or at my public school. White school boards wouldn't build schools for black children Julius Rosenwald, the CEO of Sears, teamed up with Booker T. Washington to build almost 5000 schools for Black children across the US South

This is a relatively new museum as of this writing. I'm well-versed in diverse museums, including several Jewish ones, but the idea of a Southern Jewish museum was novel to me. Apparently, the collection existed in Mississippi in some other form before migrating to New Orleans, which is probably a better destination. While New Orleans is very distinctive, it is broadly part of the American South, and the museum has a broad geographic focus with only a minority of content dedicated to the city in which it now resides. It is a beautiful historic Warehouse District building and there is some intriguing content, but I left thinking that it just wasn't fully developed. The building apparently has other uses, so the museum runs only a couple of rooms on one floor and a relatively non-intuitive staircase leads to the second floor room, which was displaying an art exhibit. As such, the museum crams in a lot of narratives without going into any real depth on any one particular story. A shocking story of a Jewish man being lynched draws eyes, but no context is given as to the history that led to it. A wall of examples of people fleeing the Holocaust or reacting to it is valuable, but only if you really understand what happened (and surveys show that a disturbingly large proportion of Americans to not). The most detailed content was a set of computer terminals at the end which display stories on specific Jewish communities. I looked up several in locations familiar to me. At the end, there was a lot of reading and not enough from my perspective to show for it. And while they touch on the complex relationship between the Jewish communities and African American civil rights, there is not nearly enough nuance or detail for someone to really wrap their head around that subject, let alone any other. Particularly given the $15 (plus fees) admission fee, I didn't think it was a sufficiently engaging or in-depth take on the subject matter. I could imagine that perhaps one day someone might buy out the rest of the building and make it into several floors to give more space for telling a proper story, but for now I suspect it will be a niche attraction for those bad weather New Orleans days.

Small but mighty! Great presentation of the many unknown people and events that allowed Jews to make their presence felt in this "frontier." We learned a lot from the many rooms filled with important documents and exhibits. The night we went we got to see a special exhibit of how a Jewish philanthropist and Booker T. Washington came together and built hundreds of elementary schools all over the rural South in the early twentieth century. There was also a presentation of two individuals who knew each other as doctor and patient and discovered that their fathers had met as concentration camp liberator who freed the other Dad who was a prisoner there. And how that changed the lives of many.

This was a great museum experience. The museum was just about a year old when I visited. Everything was shiny and brand new. You begin with the film which was engaging on how many different facets of the southern Jewish experience there are - being in a relatively blue neighbourhood of a big city in a red state is a much different experience than being in a small town in a very red state. In just a few minutes (it is supposed to be about 8 minutes long but I wasn't timing the old gal) the film captures the essence of this by focusing on the contemporary people and their stories that you got a slightly different aspect of later when you climbed the staircase to see their portraits in the gallery above. This was such a fun slice of oral, local, social history. This was like getting someone interesting drunk at dinner and letting them just talk so you could learn things from them talking, but they were just volunteering this stuff. For vibes, the museum design and experience did really well to capture the history and snapshots of life (good and bad) that pre- and post-date the Holocaust. There was ashkenazi/sephardic/mizrahi joy before and after the Holocaust. This is not a Holocaust museum, but obviously the Holocaust had a huge impact on such things as the size of my family, almost nobody made it out of Austria in the 1930s and the remainder died between the 1940s and 70s of other things so as a not-1-year old I only had a tween/teen/young adult relationship with one surviving grandparent and zero great-grands. Whereas most non-ashkenazim often have four grandparents and even more great-grands still alive by the time the big 4-0 rolls around. There was an interactive touch screen exhibit in the second room for those that tired of reading in the first room about the travelling salesmen and how they kept kosher with hard boiled eggs. (Believe it or not, Frank Reynolds' "May I offer you an egg in this trying time?") actually is historically accurate for his ashkenazim forebears in Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia). The touch screen exhibit was fun to confirm I had an approximate third grade educational reference point for all things ashkenazim like the difference between tzedakah and a shanda, just like kugel without raisins!!!! (I ain't giving you the actual answers to the questions so don't slide up in my DMs unless you at least caught the Andi Mack reference). The final contemporary room was interesting to see where the modern timeline ended, with Charlottesville basically. The hate crimes have been way up on the rise and keep getting higher, so this portion of the museum will alway need adding to, which is just our reality. So unfortunately there will be new exhibits as the tail end of the modern era keeps getting pulled forward with one terrible headline after another as the crime statistics continue to worsen. I was expecting to see something about the devastating slaughter of Blaze Bernstein in California by a member of the atomwaffen in 2018. My only criticism of the museum seems to be an aversion to anything LGTBQ+, of which there is a lot of interplay (besides Blaze's homicide) in the intersectionality of hate crimes, both in Nazi Germany and in the modern era with actual elected congresspersons unironically talking about Jewish space lasers these days. To not end things on a down note, you exit through the gift shoppe. I got in an Uber and went to Shaya afterwards because nothing says ashkenazim joy like putting some hummus on it - if you are considering visiting this museum I will safely assume you have seen You Don't Mess with the Zohan and understand that hummus goes on (and improves) everything. Five star experience for a meaningful and important new museum's addition to one of the world's finest cities. If you have done (or are planning to do) the WWII museum nearby don't miss this one right after.

This is not a particularly big museum, but it still has interesting exhibits. So what is it about? Well, I think it's best to view it as a "What was life like in the historic South like?" But with a focus on Jewish people. So for me at least, as a non-Jewish person, it was a mix of familiar and non-familiar history. It covers initial immigration and settling in the USA, anti-immigration sentiments, anti-Semitism, the Civil Rights movement, etc. It also highlights some prominent Jewish business people from the local area, like Touro. I think the weakest part of the visit was the little intro movie. It wasn't bad, but it felt kinda like fluff/filler. The museum is split between two floors. Visitors can plan on spending a couple hours here. If you like history then it's worth the visit.

I must say that I went to this museum because I have a friend from Natchez and her mother was documented there but it was a exceptionally rewarding experience thanks to Mark who took us around the museum if you're in the area I think it would be a great Experience to learn more about how people immigrate and how they make their lives in small towns

There's not much I can possibly say here that Emma G. here didn't already say in her comprehensive review -- right down to the wish that this exceptional museum had some kind of a food court to boot! (Jewish people love food, what can I say?) All I will add is that as a Jewish American who grew up in the northeast, my knowledge of Jewish history in the southern US has largely been a blind spot outside of Florida and a dash of Austin, TX. I especially appreciated how this museum didn't shy away from covering the fact that southern Jews did in fact take part in what we view today as the horrid practice of slave ownership, although there was also note of a few Jewish activists who lived in the late 1800s who stood firmly opposed to slavery, so...it wasn't definitively one side or the other, as much as one would like to think that Jews would of course be against slavery. There was quite a lot to show of Jews who were highly active in the civil rights movement in the 60s -- particularly women -- and nowadays, that activism is no less important today, as absurd as it is in the 2020s how much that is still necessary to fight for. If you're in the area and you're curious about Jewish life in the southern US through the ages, go check this place out!

I noticed this as a new museum to New Orleans on another page, and thought, "This is right up my alley" and I was very correct. This is a very thorough history starting back to the earliest times. It does present a different perspective on the story of Jews in the South. I didn't realize how back the roots really went. The museum starts with a short film and the entire exhibit is mainly contained on the first floor of this building. There is a room on the 2nd floor that also has exhibits. There is plenty of room for this to expand (hopefully) on the rest of the 2nd floor (and other floors in the building). There is a small gift shop that has a few items (books, socks, magnets and the like). I look forward to recommending this to any future visiting friends.

We hadn't planned on visiting this museum. We didn't see anything about it in our local vacation fb group. The museum of the southern Jewish experience was beautifully designed, their timeline was easy to follow. I would definitely recommend a stop here to learn more about the meshing of the Jewish southern experience. We have tickets to see the current Broadway production of Parade and found it interesting to read more about Leo and Lucille Frank, whom I didn't know about before. **small manageable museum with good perspective. A good contrast to the New York Jewish experience.

Not large with a spacious layout yet filled with as much historical detail as you're interested in engaging in. As a southern Jew with a rich family history in Atlanta, it introduced me to the history in other southern states that I was not familiar with. I definitely want to return to immerse myself in the interactive resources and delve deeper in the research they make easily accessible.

We loved this museum! Interesting artifacts, unique displays, and interactive and informative exhibits. Very cool to learn about the history of Jews in the American South. Highly recommend!

Wow this little museum is lovely Great to learn about how Jews in the south lived. Would definitely come back!!! Shalom y'all is perfect

I heard about the museum at the last minute on my trip to NOLA, and it turned out to be one of the best excursions I had in the city! This thought-provoking, well-curated, medium-sized (but definitely not shabby!) museum delves into the breadth of Judaism in the South across a timeline--early arrivals, the Civil War, WWII, the Civil Rights movement, and more, that, as Museum Manager and expert tour guide Mark Rubin suggested in advance, would be "nuanced" about Jewish life. He was spot-on. These exhibits brilliantly serves up the complexities of living in the South amongst many less Jews than in the North, provides snapshots of day-to-day life within the above stated periods of time, and gives great food for thought about Jewish involvement (or un-involvement) in this or that Southern political issue (and there's lots!) This museum should be visited by anyone with an interest in US or European history, migration patterns, social anthropology, Civil War or Civil Rights buffs, anyone... It's a very human and very nuanced and smart museum, one that will please anyone many.

Amazing museum with lots of interactive elements! Was pleasantly surprised with the depth and breadth of the exhibits.

This is a wonderful museum with a kind and outgoing staff eager to share further information about the museum's curation and content. A museum visit begins with a 8-minute video giving an overview of Southern Jewish life. Exhibitions cover the history of Jewish immigration to the South through Southern Jewish life today, including Jewish history of slaveholding and abolition activism, the birth of Reform Judaism in Charleston, the history of southern Jewish cooking, southern Jews' role in the Holocaust, information about Jewish participation in New Orleans traditions (turns out there are two Jewish Mardi Gras krewes: Krewe du Jieux and Krewe du Mishegas); and a delightful (and hilarious) presentation on the Jewish summer camp movement that culminates with proud photos of contemporary Jewish couples that met at camp. There was clearly an intentional effort to include women's experiences, which I really appreciated. I also appreciated that the museum didn't try to gloss over or ignore Jews' participation in perpetuating slavery and Jim Crow, but instead presented both the stories of Jews who participated in Southern racism and those who confronted it. Upstairs is an exhibit with photography of Jewish communities around the South from the 1980s and 1990s--fabulous, evocative photos that really effectively personalize and make real the stories of southern Jewish history. The museum was well-curated and well-laid out. We (two adults) took about an hour and a half to get through the museum. There's a gift shop with a small but nicely-curated collection: I bought a few postcards, a couple books of midrashic poetry written by a Louisiana-based Jewish poet, a cookbook, and a really lovely mezuzah cover. We'll definitely be back the next time we're in New Orleans. I only wish that the museum had a canteen to serve all the incredible-sounding food the museum describes: fried matzoh balls, BBQ brisket, peach noodle kugel, sweet corn latkes... Some day, I hope! And if not: at least I have the cookbook now.

Awesome! Super interactive and community-focused. You could tell the curators were very knowledgeable and expressed their central theme very well. It has a very clear narrative and isn't a "wander around and look at random artifacts" kind of museum.

My daughter and I visited the MSJE in late June and we really enjoyed it. It's a small museum that is very well laid out, telling the story of Jewish people of the southern United States. I think the perspective presents a different point of view of the Jewish experience that is normally told (all from a New York perpsective). I am not Jewish, but my husband is and my daughter was very captivated to learn about this aspect of Jewish life. The museum does a good job of explaining things to people who are not Jewish in an inviting way. It also noted sometimes difficult experiences of Jews who were assimilated into white culture, but at the same time oppressed and persecuted. I loved the connections they made to life in the south as a whole and also to the world. It showed the contributions of southern Jews and southerners as a whole to the collective narrative of our country and the world. The museum is brand new; just opened end of May 2020, so I imagine there will be more artifacts as time goes on, but what was displayed was very interesting. The upstairs gallery is a perfect spot for temporary exhibitions. Right now it was an exhibit of photographs of contemporary Southern Jewish life. The docents were excited to see us and were really helpful with any questions we had. We loved making a virtual crazy quilt square at the end! I look forward to visiting again on my frequent trips to New Orleans. Bonus: small, but well-curated gift shop!

Interesting exhibits and well worth the trip. Beautifully arranged and decorated. Staff was very helpful. I loved the beginning exhibit with a map showing immigration history. Good, short movie to watch beforehand. I'm from the South and thought I knew a lot about the Southern Jewish experience but really, it wasn't much. You are able to read in more detail about each Southern State.

This is an amazing, moving testament to diversity in the south. If you are a southern jew, you will feel heard and seen. If you are a southerner from another background or a jew from another region, go. There are many wonderful feels to feel here. The 8 minute movie kicks things off perfectly to set the stage for a great experience that only takes part of a day leaving time to head to other neighborhoods and keep exploring the city. Well located with easy access and a great restoration of an old building with touch screens and all the fixins.

I had a very nice visit to the museum of southern Jewish experience. The video and exhibits were very well done! The text was the right length and well-balanced with photos, artifacts and interactive displays. There was a lot of interesting information about the history of Jews in the south and about Jewish customs in general. Many of the ideas discussed are broadly applicable to the experiences of many American immigrant groups. Definitely check it out if you're in NOLA!