Browse Items (18 total)

This is one of several unique Yahrzeit Calendars in our collection. The Jewish Museum in New York has no example like this; theirs are all stylized, large, one page calendars and memorials, usually for 20 years. Temples and funeral homes, as well…

This doll, whose garments were made by the RIJHA’s board secretary and past president, Ruth Breindel, is a miniature version of the RIJHA’s mannequin, “Bessie”. Bessie, according to some of the family members who donated her to us, was created in the…

The word “tzedakah” comes from the Hebrew word “tzedek”, meaning righteousness or justice. This emphasizes the importance of making the world a more just place by giving money to various organizations. In the English Standard translation of…

The Montefiore Lodge Ladies Hebrew Benevolent Association of Providence, Rhode Island was the first Jewish women’s society in Providence. It was organized by Rabbi David Voorsanger October 23,1877 and received its charter from the State Legislature…

Because in the late 1800s and early 1900s there was no Jewish hospital, the women of the Miriam Society No. 1 (formerly the Miriam Lodge) raised money and brought Kosher food to the Jewish patients at Rhode Island Hospital and St. Joseph’s Hospital.…

This cone of sugar, also called a sugar loaf, is an example of how sugar was refined and packaged well into the 20 th century. It was often wrapped in blue paper (not this one) and sealed with red wax (as this one is). The size of this loaf means the…

Archibald Silverman, born on March 5, 1880 in Russia, immigrated to the United States 10 years later. In 1897, along with his brother Charles, he started Silverman Brothers, a jewelry manufacturing company in Providence on Eddy Street. He began with…

Scherenschnitte is the art of cutting paper into designs. The German word means “paper cutting” or “paper snipping.” The practice of paper cutting actually began in China and made its way, as a folk art form, to Germany in the 16th Century. It was…

This ark belonged to Dr. David Nemtzow, who was both a chazan and shofar blower for a Havurah Simchah group he led, which met at Touro Synagogue for many years and then moved to Middletown. It is on loan from the Rhode Island Jewish Museum, which…

Leo Karpeles was born in 1838 in Prague, Bohemia. He emigrated to the United States, following his older brother, Emil, in 1849 where they both settled in Galveston, Texas. For several years, Leopold rode with the early Texas Rangers and was part of…