Joods Historisch Museum (Jewish Historical Museum)

Joods Historisch Museum (Jewish Historical Museum) Review

Four Ashkenazi synagogues (or shuls, as they are called in Yiddish), dating from the 17th and 18th centuries were combined with glass-and-steel constructions in 1987 to create this warm and impressive museum commemorating the four-century history of the Jewish people in Amsterdam and the Netherlands. Back in the 17th century, Ashkenazi Jews fled the pogroms in Central and Eastern Europe. They weren't exactly welcomed with open arms by the already settled Sephardic Jews (who resented the increased competition imposed by their often poorer brethren); consequently separate synagogues were built. Four of them make up this complex: the Neie Sjoel (New Synagogue, 1752), traces the subject of Jewish identity; the Grote Sjoel (Great Synagogue, 1671), presents the tenets of Judaism; the Obbene Sjoel (Upstairs Synagogue, 1686), is where the bookshop and café are found; and the Dritt Sjoel (Third Synagogue, 1700) houses a collection that includes an 18th-century Sephardic Torah Mantle, a magnificent carved wood Holy Ark dating from 1791, and the autobiographical art of the Berlin artist Charlotte Solomon (1917-43). The museum also features a separate children's museum, a resource center, and one of the city's few purely kosher cafés. Whether or not you tour the collections or regular exhibitions, check out the excellent tours of the Jewish Quarter conducted by this museum.