The Derfner Judaica Museum will be open for special Sunday hours this month on July 18 from 10:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Regular weekday hours are Monday – Thursday, 10:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.; Friday until 3:00 p.m.. The Museum is free and open to the public.
On view is the exhibition, Tradition and Remembrance: Treasures of the Derfner Judaica Museum, which explores the intersections of Jewish history and memory. Among the featured objects in the exhibition are a silver filigree vase, 1911, and an early copper alloy Hanukkah lamp, from the famed Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts founded in Jerusalem in 1906. Other objects come from near and far, including a set of 18th-century German Torah implements, a handsomely illuminated 19th-century Italian marriage contract and a 2nd – 4th century lamella amulet.
The Judaica Museum at the Hebrew Home was founded in 1982 when Riverdale residents Ralph and Leuba Baum donated their collection of Jewish ceremonial art to the Home. A refugee from Nazi persecution, Ralph Baum, and his wife, Leuba, had an intense desire to preserve and pass on to future generations the memory embodied in the objects they collected, the majority of which were used primarily by European Jews before the Holocaust. In 2008 the Judaica Museum was named in honor of benefactors Harold Derfner, and his late wife, Helen.
As a member of the American Association of Museums, The Hebrew Home at Riverdale is committed to publicly exhibiting its art collection throughout its 19-acre campus, including a sculpture garden overlooking the majestic Hudson River and Palisades, and to providing educational and cultural programming that benefits both its residents and visitors from New York City and its surrounding suburbs. The Home is a nonprofit, non-sectarian geriatric center serving more than 3,000 elderly persons through its resources and community service programs. For further information, please contact the Curator’s Office at 718-581-1596 or visit the website here.
