A Message from Dr. Sol Davis, JMM Executive Director

August 8, 2024  |  4 Av 5784

Jewish Museum of Maryland Supporters,

JMM is approaching the start of a new era in its history. Construction in the Museum’s front of house is advancing toward completion. As we have moved through the stages of construction, we have had the opportunity to share our designs with numerous stakeholders. The response has been an overwhelming affirmation and sense of amazement at the innovative approaches we are implementing.

This week, we experienced an unsettling moment on our campus. On the evening of Sunday August 4, 2024, a fire was intentionally set at the front gate of our Museum. No staff or construction crew were at the Museum at the time. Twenty minutes later, Baltimore Fire Department arrived and extinguished the fire.

We are grateful that no one was injured, and that the Museum property sustained only superficial damage. We are cooperating with the authorities in their ongoing investigation of this incident.

As we move toward reopening the Museum building, we do so with a deep sense of purpose rooted in an understanding that the JMM, its staff, board of directors, and volunteers are the caretakers and stewards of our communal history. Our communal history is the social glue of our community. We are the holders of the material culture that allow us to share our communal story. Our collections give material, visual, oral, and documentary form to the stories we tell about who we are and how we came to be who we are. Not only do we care for our communal history, but we also facilitate the telling and interpretation of that history from a variety of perspectives. Our team possesses the skills and talents that support telling the story of who we are, and those stories inform the visiting public, including students across the region, about who the Jewish people in Maryland are, the culture, traditions, and experiences that shape us.

This work, all of it, is central to our mission. As we move through this moment, we prepare to reopen the Museum’s doors in the coming months with an abundance of Jewish joy, ritual, reflection, art, history, and connection.

With care,