The Jewish Heritage Museum of Monmouth County

The Jewish Heritage Museum of Monmouth County

Arthur L. Finkle

The Jewish Heritage Museum of Monmouth County opened in 2006. The museum’s mission is to raise public awareness of the County's Jewish heritage, particularly its agricultural contributions. 

The earliest Jewish population can be traced to Isaac Emanuel, a Freehold merchant, was the first Jew to settle in Monmouth County in 1720. During the American Revolution, both the British and Continental sides after the Battle of Monmouth (1778) mentioned ‘Jewtown” in what is now Freehold Township. Local history indicates there were several Jewish tavern and inn keepers.

It presents exhibits, programs and publications that celebrate and preserve the unique history of the Jewish residents of Monmouth County, New Jersey.

Located in an old barn (c1800), once part of the Levi Solomon farm, (donated by Bernard Hochberg), its supporters include The Jewish Federation of Greater Monmouth County.

Manny Metz, a Freehold farmer for more than four decades, tends his land, circa 1975.

Jill Huber, New Jersey Jewish News Bureau, reported that Jean Klerman of Fair Haven, and Charlotte Kruman of Rumson, co-chaired an exhibit on the book,

Peddler to Suburbanite: The History of the Jews of Monmouth County,

Kruman chaired the Jewish Bicentennial Committee of the Monmouth Jewish

She also donated a copy of a 1778 map depicted ‘Jews Town’ (now part of Colts Neck) as seen in the Battle of Monmouth during the Revolutionary War.

Jean Klerman, a member of the museum’s board of trustees and co-writer of the book, was the “driving force” in creating the exhibit. She recognized the efforts of museum co-president Jeffrey Wolf, the exhibits committee co-chair, and committee members Susan Helfant, Nora Levinson, Marilyn Kass, Michael Berman, Gil Newman, and Karen Wolf.

By 1935, according to Peddler to Suburbanite, Monmouth County ranked among most poultry farmers in the United States. Estimates suggested that Jewish farmers accounted for about 75 percent of New Jersey’s total egg production.

The exhibit featured with photos and text depicting highlights from the lives of Jewish poultry farmers who once helped earn Monmouth County the nickname “egg basket of the nation.” Dioramas show chicken coops and farming implements.

Jeffrey Wolf, museum co-president, and Georgine Eberbright, vice president and exhibits chair, admire a model of a chicken coop — “complete with chicks” — part of an exhibit honoring Jewish farmers on display at the Jewish Heritage Museum of Monmouth County. The two co-chaired the committee working on the exhibit.

 Past Exhibits included:

·       Rev. John Greaul : Christian Zionist

·       Monmouth County Poultry Farming

·       Jersey Homesteads: Experiments in Cooperative Living (Roosevelt, NJ)

·       The Land Was Theirs: The Story of the Jewish Farmers of Monmouth County

·       Dr. Gertrude Wishnick Dubrovsky, who passed away in October 2012, was New Jersey’s foremost historian of the state’s Jewish farming communities.

·       Fun Can Be Work!

·       The Art of Clara Gee Stamaty, Stanley Stamaty, and Mark Alan Stamaty

·       Jewish Experience in Pictures (Photographs Capturing Monmouth County’s Jewish Experience)

·       Marilyn Michaels: Painting and Memories - a Multimedia Exhibit

·       Art exhibition of Marilyn Michaels memorabilia  (theatre, television and recording star)

·       Sheldon Sacks Exhibit (Popular commercial artist)

·       World War II Tribute

·       The Historical Memorabilia of Rabbi Sally J. Priesand, America's First Woman Rabbi. In 1972 Sally Priesand became the first woman ordained as a rabbi from a rabbinical seminary. She served for twenty five years as rabbi of Monmouth Reform Temple..   

·       Textile Exhibit

·       Jacob Landau: Humanist and Visionary

·       Exhibit and commentary on the artist’s work by Dr. David Herrstrom, president of the Landau Institute as well as a musical presentation by David Brahinsky and Friends, Roosevelt, NJ.

Current and future programs are found at http://www.jhmomc.org/