Manchester Jewish Museum

Last night, we had a lovely Chanukah get-together with our amazing volunteers! 🕎 There was even a special MJM quiz to top it all off! Each member of staff contributed some questions, which made it extra fun and personal. We’re so grateful for this wonderful group of people and hope everyone enjoyed the night as much as we did. Thanks to all who came along! ❤️

Exciting news! We are so proud to share that our engaging collection videos, which we post weekly on social media, have been longlisted for the Digital Culture Awards 2025 in the Digital Content category! This recognition celebrates the way we bring the stories and objects in our collection to life, using creative and contemporary storytelling to connect with new audiences and spark meaningful conversations. We’re honoured to be listed alongside so many incredible projects from across the country. A huge thank you to our amazing team and volunteers - this wouldn’t be possible without your passion and dedication! #DigitalCultureAwards

📣Our Chanukah Appeal: Help us continue to bring people together 🕎 As Chanukah approaches, the whole museum team would like to wish you a peaceful holiday season and thank you for your invaluable support over the past year. 2024 has been an incredible year for our museum! We’ve connected with nearly 12,000 people from Manchester and beyond, creating special memories with visitors, schoolchildren, artists, and community members. Many visitors told us their time with us made them feel more connected to their own or other communities, more hopeful, and inspired to make a positive difference. This year, we taught over 4,800 pupils from 100+ schools, giving them fun, hands-on experiences like baking, crafting, and learning about Jewish traditions and festivals. In May, we celebrated 150 years of our Spanish and Portuguese synagogue with exhibitions, performances, and even a time capsule, bringing people together to honour our history. In October, we took part in the Cheetham Cultural Festival, welcoming over 220 people for creative, family-friendly activities celebrating the diversity of our local area. None of this would be possible without your support. As a charity, we rely on your visits, memberships, and donations to share the rich stories of Jewish Manchester, bring people together, and promote peace through understanding. Thank you for being part of this journey! Read our Chanukah appeal to learn more about how you can support our work in the coming year and what exciting things we've got in the pipeline for 2025! https://lnkd.in/e3Sv7uXT

"I’ll miss the collection. I’ll miss meeting interesting people every day. I’ll miss walking into the beautiful synagogue when it’s all quiet and peaceful. But I’ll miss the people here more than anything." After 16 years of taking care of our vast collection and being a custodian of our 150-year old Spanish and Portuguese synagogue, Alex Cropper will be stepping down and handing over to Josh Jones. Alex has helped lead the museum through a substantial period of change culminating in the launch of our new building in July 2021, following a £6 million capital redevelopment. The modern gallery, which opened as part of our new museum, shares Jewish stories through three universal themes: Journeys, Communities and Identities, allowing both Jewish and non-Jewish audiences of the museum to find connections with their own experiences. In this interview, Alex shares her key memories from the past 16 years: https://lnkd.in/dQHAiuTd

We have just published our annual Museum Impact Report for 2023-24, summarising all of the incredible work that happened here, at the museum, between April 2023 and March 2024. 👨👩👧👦 We engaged with over 14 thousand people 🎫 Over 6 thousand people visited the museum as part of General Admission 🖍 554 people engaged with our free participatory groups 🎭 1,228 people saw evening performances in our synagogue and participated in family-friendly sessions 🏫 We delivered 362 of teaching to schools visiting the museum 🖼 Our museum collection grew by 497 accessioned items 🍪 We sold 965 tahini cookies in our vegetarian Cafe ❤️ All with the help of our 11 members of staff and the invaluable support of our museum volunteers. The full report is now available for download on our website. Read our highlights, including museum engagement, our work with schools and local communities as well as some fascinating updates from our curator: https://lnkd.in/e_XnxbuT

Our Chief Executive Gareth and Curator & Deputy Chief Executive Alex had a great day out yesterday attending a garden party at the Buckingham Palace! Thank you to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Arts Council England for the invitation and hospitality. It was a really great event!

Are you passionate about social history and heritage? Would you like to help us curate exhibitions and take care of our stunning 150 year-old synagogue building? We are currently looking for a new curator to join our team and lead on the management, interpretation, care and growth of our vast collections. If you have experience with caring for and handling historic objects and heritage buildings, we'd love to hear from you! This is a very exciting opportunity to join a passionate team and help us preserve the Jewish history of Manchester. Read the full job description below and apply by 9am on Tuesday 28th May. https://lnkd.in/d9EUyBc

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our Museum Open Day on Monday to celebrate the 150th anniversary of our Spanish & Portuguese synagogue. We couldn't have wished for a better birthday party and we hope that everyone had a good time! Thank you to our fantastic guests, artists and everyone who helped us make this day so special or contributed to our time capsule, including our Trustees and volunteers, our friends from the Moor Lane synagogue, Rabbi Danny Bergson from St Annes Hebrew Congregation, Jewish Museum London, artists James Nissen, Brian Whitmore, Jo Scorah and Barbara Paul, as well as Cheetham Brownies and our museum's very own Foodie Group, Crafty Corner and Songwriting Group. Our new exhibition, which tells the story of our 150-year old synagogue, will be on display until the end of the year, so if you haven't seen it yet, plan a visit to the museum. Photographs by Chris Payne Images

Ahead of the upcoming celebrations of our synagogue's 150th birthday, the ITV team visited the museum to speak to us about the history of this remarkable space and its community. You can now watch the full video on the iTVX website below. Thank you to Claire Hannah and the team for capturing our story! https://lnkd.in/eWtzdMs2

This year the restored Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue at Manchester Jewish Museum celebrates its 150th anniversary! To mark the anniversary of its opening the museum will host a range of events, from live performances to family-friendly activities and workshops exploring the Sephardi culture and history which can be found in the synagogue. Read more at JLife: https://bit.ly/3IEfFkx Manchester Jewish Museum #JLife #Magazine #Manchester #Jewishlife #JewishCommunity #JewishMuseum #JewishHistory