AJHS Digital

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Channel • 3 Shows

Visual Arts

Visual Arts

Updated weekly
History

History

Every two weeks
History

History

Every-two-weeks series

5 days ago

A Leap Into the Unknown

During the American Civil War, the majority of Jews supported the Union, due to larger populations living in the North. Much like the American population at large, however, Jews in America were divided in their allegiances, representing a small but significant minority in the South as the Confederacy waged its war. Jews fiercely fought on both sides of the conflict, but not without facing the same antisemitism that had been a stain on the country before its division, most notably through General Grant's Order No. 11, which called for the expulsion of Jews from multiple southern communities. Featuring Shari Rabin and Adam Mendelsohn, and hosted by AJHS Executive Director Gemma R. Birnbaum. Episode Image: Confederate bank note from 1864, from the Judah P. Benjamin Collection at the American Jewish Historical Society, P-45. All We Have Standing Between Us is made possible thanks to generous funding from the Knapp Family Foundation. Additional funding provided by the Leon Levy Foundation, the Achelis and Bodman Foundation, the Atran Foundation, and Anonymous. Special thanks to SOFA Entertainment.

5 days ago

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27 min
17 Mar

Israel

Bill has traveled to Israel numerous times since his first visit as an undergraduate in 1961. In 1980, and again in 2010, he returned, no longer a student, but a professional photographer, seeking to capture everyday life in historic spaces. With each trip, Bill's stories provide a unique perspective of not only an individual growing and maturing, but also his experience witnessing a country age and transform. From a young student hitchhiking to a professional photographer capturing daily life outside the Damascus Gate. We learn how Israel inspired Bill to experiment as an artist, from abstract photography to harnessing new technology to create giant panoramas. Commentary from Michael Brenner, the Lillian Abensohn Chair of Israel Studies at American University in Washington D.C. will provide historical context to the changes that Bill encounters with each passing visit. The World in Front of Me is presented by Jay and Gretchen Stein, with generous support from the Knapp Family Foundation, the Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation in Honor of Alan Bloch, Scott and Dianne Einhorn, The Karetsky Family, and Michael and Corie Koss. Image Credit: Western Wall, Jerusalem, 1980, Bill Aron.

17 Mar

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27 min
17 Feb

The American South

In the early 1990's Bill Aron was approached by Macy Hart and Vicki Reikes Fox of the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience to document Jewish life in the American South. Never having spent much time in that area of the world, Bill figured that the project would be completed rather quickly, "South, deep South—how many Jews could there be? One or two trips, it'll be done." The project would last over a decade and result in a book Shalom, Y'all: Images of Jewish Life in the American South, which was published in 2002, as well as an exhibition that was on view at institutions like the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York, and the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience in New Orleans. Project director and author Vicki Reikes Fox joins us to give her commentary on the project, along with current Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience Director Kenneth Hoffman, for historical context. Bill shares stories about southern cooking, intermarriage, mercantile salesmen, and matchmaking. The World in Front of Me is presented by Jay and Gretchen Stein, with generous support from the Knapp Family Foundation, the Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation in Honor of Alan Bloch, Scott and Dianne Einhorn, The Karetsky Family, and Michael and Corie Koss. Image Credit: Henrietta Levine Chopped Chicken Liver, Pine Bluff, AR, 1991, Bill Aron.

17 Feb

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21 min
3 Feb

New York

Bill Aron and his wife Isa moved to New York City in 1974, during the heyday of urban street photography. Looking for a career change, but with no clear idea on what he should do, Bill turned to his camera to fill his days. He began to document his Jewish world: the Lower East Side where he worked, and the Upper West Side Havurah Community, where he found fellowship and a radical method of Jewish observance. The Havurah is also where he met our host, Ruth Ellenson, then only a small child. Bill and Ruth reminisce about their first impressions of each other - Bill as a long-haired hippie, and Ruth as a charismatic, outgoing kid. Guest expert Deborah Dash Moore illuminates the field of New York City street photography in this era, and how Bill's work and approach compares to his contemporaries, guiding us through the Jewish neighborhoods of New York and the uniqueness of the counter-culture Havurah movement. During this period, Bill's hobby evolved into a profession. And thanks to his documentary photography, 1970's Jewish New York has a significant historical record. The World in Front of Me is presented by Jay and Gretchen Stein, with generous support from the Knapp Family Foundation, the Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation in Honor of Alan Bloch, Scott and Dianne Einhorn, The Karetsky Family, and Michael and Corie Koss. Image credit: NYC Subway, 1977, Bill Aron.

3 Feb

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25 min
10 Feb

The Soviet Union

In 1981, Bill Aron went to the Soviet Union to photograph Jewish people living behind the Iron Curtain. Many of these Jews were refuseniks who had applied to leave the USSR but were denied, and as a consequence were subject to harassment, lost their jobs, and in some cases, were even imprisoned. Bill traveled to Moscow, Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), and Minsk and photographed the Jewish life that was persisting despite hostility from the government. In this episode, Ruth Andrew Ellenson interviews Bill about his experience with surveillance, bluffing his way through a meeting at Belarus Film Institute, and photographing in a synagogue on Yom Kippur. Bill was humbled to meet so many people who, despite the great risk and personal cost, still chose to observe their Jewish faith. After the Soviet Union fell, many of the refuseniks he met relocated to Israel, where Bill has had the opportunity to reunite with them years later. Featuring historical commentary from Shaul Kelner, Professor of Jewish Studies and Sociology at Vanderbilt University. The World in Front of Me is presented by Jay and Gretchen Stein, with generous support from the Knapp Family Foundation, the Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation in Honor of Alan Bloch, Scott and Dianne Einhorn, The Karetsky Family, and Michael and Corie Koss. Image: Minsk Sukkah, Former Soviet Union, Bill Aron.

10 Feb

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23 min
Season 2, Episode 5

The Defendants

On April 5, 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death under the Espionage Act of 1917. The couple was accused of spying for the Soviet Union and providing classified information about nuclear weapons, radar, sonar, and jet propulsion engines. The trial, which was presided over by Judge Irving Robert Kaufman, captured international attention. Narrated by Rebecca Naomi Jones and featuring Martin J. Siegel, author of Judgment and Mercy: The Turbulent Life and Times of the Judge Who Condemned the Rosenbergs. Image: Cover of brochure produced by the National Committee to Secure Justice for Morton Sobell. From the Committee to Free Morton Sobell Collection at AJHS, I-356. The Wreckage is made possible by funding from the Ford Foundation. Additional funding is provided through the American Jewish Education Program, generously supported by Sid and Ruth Lapidus.

S2, E5

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23 min
Season 2, Episode 4

The Professors

College professors and other educators were among those targeted by anti-communists, but the search for Communist Party members in the U.S. education system began much earlier. The so-called "Red-ucators" were among the first deemed subversives, and Harvard University, City College of New York, and many other schools were rocked by hundreds of subpoenas, calling them to testify in front of special committees that were formed to weed out communists in education. Morris Schappes, an English professor in the CUNY system and member of the American Communist Party, was one of these educators, and became a prominent symbol of the quest to purge school systems of subversives. Narrated by Rebecca Naomi Jones and featuring Gemma R. Birnbaum, executive director of the American Jewish Historical Society. Image: May Day Labor Parade, New York College Teachers Union 1930's - 1940's. From the Morris U. Schappes Papers at AJHS, P-57. The Wreckage is made possible by funding from the Ford Foundation. Additional funding is provided through the American Jewish Education Program, generously supported by Sid and Ruth Lapidus.

S2, E4

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20 min
Season 1 Trailer

Coming Soon: All We Have Standing Between Us

All We Have Standing Between Us is a compelling narrative series from the American Jewish Historical Society. Featuring untold stories from the archives and a slate of special guests, listeners will be taken on a journey through the history of the United States and the Great Democratic Experiment, told through the lives of the American Jews who not just lived through it, but helped shape it. Narrated by AJHS Executive Director Gemma R. Birnbaum. All We Have Standing Between Us is made possible thanks to generous funding from the Knapp Family Foundation. Additional funding provided by the Leon Levy Foundation, the Achelis and Bodman Foundation, the Atran Foundation, and Anonymous.

S1 Trailer

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1 min
Season 2, Episode 2

The Unionists

The film, television, and theater industries were represented by some of the largest unions in the United States, and in the late 1940s, with the full cooperation of Screen Actors Guild President Ronald Reagan, organizations like the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Values sought to root out what they deemed the communist threat in entertainment. Unions from other industries were also targeted, and a narrative that communist infiltration was the true root cause of contemporary labor conflicts was embraced by a number of American politicians. Narrated by Rebecca Naomi Jones and featuring Thomas Doherty, author of Show Trial: Hollywood, HUAC, and the Birth of the Blacklist. Image: Strikers on the picket line at Warner Bros., in the early morning hours before violence broke out, October 5, 1945. Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images The Wreckage is made possible by funding from the Ford Foundation. Additional funding is provided through the American Jewish Education Program, generously supported by Sid and Ruth Lapidus.

S2, E2

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18 min
24 Feb

Thriving Survivors

In 2005, Bill Aron was approached by Marilyn Harran of Chapman University's Holocaust Studies department to photograph 100 members of the 1939 Society. The project of oral histories and portraits was named The Indestructible Spirit. The 1939 Society was formed in Los Angeles in 1952 by fourteen survivors of the Holocaust. The support group evolved to become an organization dedicated to memorialization and education. Breaking stereotypes of previous survivor portraiture, Bill was instructed to photograph 1939 Society members as vibrant, successful people full of life. Looking for a stylistic choice that would support this vision, Bill began to photograph in color for the first time in his career. The project not only captured a community of people who had not just survived, but thrived. Hasia Diner, professor emeritus of American Jewish History at New York University joins us to provide historical background on memorialization after the Holocaust. The World in Front of Me is presented by Jay and Gretchen Stein, with generous support from the Knapp Family Foundation, the Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation in Honor of Alan Bloch, Scott and Dianne Einhorn, The Karetsky Family, and Michael and Corie Koss. Image Credit: Jack Pariser, Bill Aron.

24 Feb

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18 min

We bring listeners award-winning podcasts containing stories directly from the archives. Founded in 1892, the American Jewish Historical Society contains over 30 million documents, objects, and audio visual materials spanning more than 400 years of history.

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AJHS Digital

Top Shows

A Leap Into the Unknown

Israel

The American South

New York

The Soviet Union

The Defendants

The Professors

Coming Soon: All We Have Standing Between Us

The Unionists

Thriving Survivors

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