Manchester Jewish Museum

Manchester Jewish Museum We are place to experience how we are different, together 🫱🏼‍🫲🏿 Manchester Jewish Museum is a place to experience how we are different, together.
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Our museum first opened in 1984, housed in a Grade II* listed 1874 (former) Spanish and Portuguese synagogue in Cheetham Hill, one of the most diverse areas in Manchester. Following a £6m redevelopment and extension our new museum includes a new gallery, vegetarian café, shop and learning studio & kitchen as well as complete restoration of our synagogue. We hold over 31,000 items in our collection

, documenting the story of Jewish migration and settlement in Manchester. The collection is considered by historians to be of national and international significance and our synagogue has been described by Historic England as “one of the highlights of Victorian Gothic architecture in the country”. We connect Jewish stories to the world and to our society to explore both our differences and similarities and celebrate that which makes people unique and that which connects us all. In doing so we look to spark reaction and change and to make real the knowledge that there is more that binds us together than separates us. We boldly explore and combine educational, cultural and artistic experiences to encourage those with whom we come into contact to feel and believe that we are all better together. We make connections to make things better.

We’re thrilled to announce that we've made it to the Shortlist for Digital Content at this year’s Digital Culture Awards...
04/02/2025

We’re thrilled to announce that we've made it to the Shortlist for Digital Content at this year’s Digital Culture Awards! 🏆

This recognition is for our weekly Instagram & TikTok videos, where we share lesser-heard stories from our vast museum collection. If you haven’t followed us there yet, this is a great time to do it and stay connected ❤️

Being the only Manchester organisation on the shortlist makes this even more special! 🐝

A huge thank you to our amazing social media volunteers who help bring these stories to life. We couldn’t do it without you! 🙌

Now, we wait for the results… wish us luck! 🤞

This past Monday was Holocaust Memorial Day and so we were inspired to delve deeper into our archives. We stumbled acros...
31/01/2025

This past Monday was Holocaust Memorial Day and so we were inspired to delve deeper into our archives. We stumbled across this stunning oil painting that unlocked an incredible story. So join us on a journey from Manchester to the hidden synagogues of North Wales! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

This fabulous oil painting, commissioned by Zena and Simon Wegh for the Colwyn Bay Synagogue, was made in memorial of the Holocaust. Rachel, daughter of the original commissioners, kindly shared how her own cousins were likely inspiration for the children depicted in the painting and the words shown are from The Mourner’s Kaddish.

Due to the large number of evacuated Jewish people arriving in the area during the Second World War, the Jewish community of North Wales had grown significantly, especially in Colwyn Bay. Mark Bloom established Colwyn Bay’s synagogue to meet the growing demand and it opened in 1943. 🕍

Our very own former curator Alex found a link between the below portrait of Mark Bloom, which was donated to the museum over three decades ago, and the Northern Jewish painter Emmanuel Levy. 🎨

Eventually, due to dwindling numbers, Colwyn Bay synagogue was forced to merge with the Llandudno congregation around 1977. The Llandudno synagogue remains the only active synagogue in North Wales today!

This week at the museum, we have a temporary exhibition designed by the Iziko Next Gen Homework Club, commemorating Holocaust Memorial Day, with this year’s theme being For a Better Future. 🕯️

We left a place for visitors to write their own reflections inspired by the exhibition and Holocaust Memorial Day but if you are unable to visit in person, please feel free in the comments to share your own thoughts.

Are you curious about songwriting or just love music? Our free Songwriting Group is open to anyone aged 18 and over - no...
30/01/2025

Are you curious about songwriting or just love music? Our free Songwriting Group is open to anyone aged 18 and over - no experience required! 🎵

Twice a month, we come together in a warm and welcoming space to write songs inspired by stories in our museum collection and our own experiences. Led by our Creative Producer, we explore fun writing activities, collaborate on music, and even work with talented composers and musicians along the way.

Bring your ideas, your curiosity, and maybe even an instrument (if you’d like - but no pressure!) and join us for the next session on Monday, 3rd February. We'd love to welcome new members to the group!

Book for free: https://www.manchesterjewishmuseum.com/activitie/song-writing-group-creating-music-together-6/

Behind every mini challah is a BIG team effort! 🥖✨ Today, our Café staff and volunteers rolled up their sleeves to braid...
28/01/2025

Behind every mini challah is a BIG team effort! 🥖✨

Today, our Café staff and volunteers rolled up their sleeves to braid and prep these tiny loaves. Tomorrow, they’ll be freshly baked and served with warm bowls of soup in our museum café.

Exciting update: our café team now bakes their own bread, made fresh on-site and served as the perfect side to our delicious dishes!

Yesterday, we opened our doors for free and welcomed over 150 visitors to mark Holocaust Memorial Day. It was a truly sp...
27/01/2025

Yesterday, we opened our doors for free and welcomed over 150 visitors to mark Holocaust Memorial Day. It was a truly special day, and we’re so grateful to everyone who joined us. 🕯️❤️

Thank you for coming to see the beautiful exhibition, created by the talented children from Iziko Youth Next Gen Homework Club at the Ntcg Faith Tabernacle.

Our Café’s Coffee Kuchen, inspired by Alice Rubinstein’s story and her connection to Hamburg, seemed to be a hit and it was wonderful to see so many of you making your own fabric bookmarks in the workshop.

Thank you for spending this important day with us, and a heartfelt thanks to Iziko Youth Next Gen Homework Club and our incredible volunteers who helped make it all happen. We couldn’t have done it without you.

📣Join us this Half-term holiday for an interactive creative writing workshop with author Jay Prosser!🧒Is there an object...
24/01/2025

📣Join us this Half-term holiday for an interactive creative writing workshop with author Jay Prosser!🧒

Is there an object that fascinates you, or that you can’t live without? Objects may be silent, but they hold stories waiting to be told. They can be family heirlooms, museum artifacts, or everyday items—shaping us as much as we shape them.

This workshop, for families with primary school-aged children and up, invites you to bring an object to the museum—or discover one there—to inspire your story. Whether it’s a treasured keepsake or something ordinary, we’ll use these objects to craft stories, both real and imagined. 🖍

The end result will be a collection of stories, which might in turn become part of the museum’s collection.

👉Book here:

Join us for an interactive family-friendly workshop with Jay Prosser this half-term holiday! Explore the fascinating world of objects and their stories. Together, we'll create a collection of stories that could even become part of the museum’s collection!

Have you ever heard of Mayer Hersh? With Holocaust Memorial Day approaching, we want to share his incredible story.Mayer...
23/01/2025

Have you ever heard of Mayer Hersh? With Holocaust Memorial Day approaching, we want to share his incredible story.

Mayer Hersh, one of the UK’s most active and impactful Holocaust survivors and educators, was born in 1926 in Sieradz, Poland, to a religious Jewish family. They spoke Yiddish and Polish at home. Mayer was 13 years old when World War 2 broke out.

In 1940 him and his brother Jakob were taken by the n**i soldiers to Opoczno to work as slave labourers. From there, he was sent from camp to camp, miraculously surviving nine of them.

After liberation in 1945, he came to Britain with a group of Jewish refugees, first settling in Windermere and later moving to Manchester. Below you can see him with a group from a refugee hostel in Singleton Road in 1946.

In Manchester, Mayer worked as a tailor and ran his own tailoring shop. Our collection includes letters and certificates, documenting his process of obtaining a British citizenship. In 1965 he married Judith Cooklin. They met at a Jewish social club in the city.

Upon retiring in the 1970s, Mayer dedicated his life to Holocaust education, touring schools and sharing his experiences. Below you can see letters written to him by school pupils, thanking him for a visit to their school.
Hersh’s educational work was recognised with his appointment as MBE in 2013. He died in 2016 in Prestwich. He is remembered through his legacy and his story now lives in our museum’s collection.

If you’d like to connect with more stories like Mayer’s, come to our Museum Open Day this Sunday as we mark Holocaust Memorial Day. We’d love to see you there.

📣Join us this Sunday, January 26th, as we open our doors for FREE to mark Holocaust Memorial Day. 🕯Over the past few mon...
22/01/2025

📣Join us this Sunday, January 26th, as we open our doors for FREE to mark Holocaust Memorial Day. 🕯

Over the past few months, we have been collaborating with a group of children from the Iziko Next Gen Homework Club, which meets at Ntcg Faith Tabernacle in Cheetham Hill. Ranging in age from 6 – 13, the children have been exploring stories from the museum’s collection, learning more about the experiences of Jewish refugees during the Second World War.

In response to the stories, they have been creating artworks on this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day theme of ‘For a Better Future’. These artworks share the children’s ideas and hopes for Cheetham in the future, including ways in which we can continue to make the city a welcoming place for people arriving to Manchester.

Join us to see a new temporary exhibition showcasing the children's work and participate in our hands-on creative workshops. You will also get a chance to explore our 1874 Spanish and Portuguese synagogue and museum galleries and enjoy dishes from our vegetarian Cafe, inspired by stories from our collection.

👉Book for FREE:

Come to our Museum Open Day, designed by the Homework Club at NTCG Faith Tabernacle, Cheetham Hill. Expect food, artworks and creative activities, including a Make Your Own Fabric Bookmark workshop.

Join us on Thursday, 20 February, for a meeting with author Jay Prosser as he presents his prize-winning recent book, ‘L...
20/01/2025

Join us on Thursday, 20 February, for a meeting with author Jay Prosser as he presents his prize-winning recent book, ‘Loving Strangers: A Camphorwood Chest, a Legacy, a Son Returns’.

Jay's new book is a powerful family memoir reimagining Jewish identity beyond the familiar landscapes of Europe and the Holocaust, journeying through Iraq, India, China and Singapore.

Join Jay as he unpacks the family camphorwood chest his mother brought with her when she migrated from Singapore. The author will use a selection of striking images from the book to tell the extraordinary stories of some of his ancestors who lived – and loved across racial and religious divides – in Asia.

Jay’s presentation will be followed by a Q&A open to the audience and hosted by Sherry Ashworth, a PhD alumna of the University of Manchester, author and our museum's volunteer guide.

Book tickets:

Join author Jay Prosser as he presents his prize-winning recent book, ‘Loving Strangers: A Camphorwood Chest, a Legacy, a Son Returns’.

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us yesterday for our Crafty Corner session with the brilliant Irina Razumovskaya...
17/01/2025

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us yesterday for our Crafty Corner session with the brilliant Irina Razumovskaya Art! 🎨✨

We had such a lovely time exploring the tradition of Sephardic wedding rings and creating beautiful jewellery pieces and tableware using marbled clay. It also felt special to reflect on themes of home, belonging, and resilience while getting creative together.

Your wonderful creations are now on their way to London to be fired! Once they’re finished, they’ll be sent back to us, and we can’t wait to see the final results.

A heartfelt thank you to Irina for sharing her talent with us and to Holocaust Centre North for supporting this workshop. Keep an eye out for our next Crafty Corner - we’d love to see you there!

Have you ever heard of Samuels Fashion house? 🧥👢Up until the 1960s King Street was the home of a popular Jewish Fashion ...
16/01/2025

Have you ever heard of Samuels Fashion house? 🧥👢

Up until the 1960s King Street was the home of a popular Jewish Fashion house known as Samuels. In our archive we have found many items and photographs related to the shop and those who worked there, including its legendary owner Gertie Samuels, pictured here in the shop’s showroom.

The shop was found in the late 19th century by Gertie’s father, Louis. Thanks to Gertie enthusiasm for fashion and vast knowledge of the industry, Samuels remained a successful fashion house on King Street until the 1960s, when it relocated to Hale in South Manchester. Below you can see a photo of their Showroom on Kings Street.

Gertie Samuels remained unmarried her whole life, so that she could dedicate herself to the business. In the photograph below she is pictured with a model wearing one of the shop’s designs. As the shop was a family business, Gertie received help with the designs from her sisters Stella, Esther, and Sophie. Her brother Louis also worked for the shop as their business manager, shown in this photo with Prince Phillip.

Above the shop was a team of seamstresses who brought the sister’s designs to life. In our archive we found some of the labels from various periods, that would be stitched onto the shop’s clothes. We also have a garment bag and hanger used in the Fashion house.

If you'd like to learn more about the Jewish history behind the streets of Manchester, book your visit to the museum!

Our museum Café has recently introduced a new dish to their menu, Ahava from Girona. 🥣This hearty soup turns the humble ...
15/01/2025

Our museum Café has recently introduced a new dish to their menu, Ahava from Girona. 🥣

This hearty soup turns the humble bean into a gourmet delight, inspired by Spain's traditional frijole dishes but with a modern twist.

A fragrant mix of rosemary, thyme, onion, and garlic enriches the deep, flavourful broth, while a splash of reduced passata adds a beautiful touch of colour. Finished with a parsley and walnut pesto, known as Picada. 🫘🥄

This recipe pays homage to the stories of Jewish migrants, who carried their cherished culinary traditions and flavours across borders, adapting them as they built new lives in unfamiliar lands. With "Ahava" meaning "love", this soup is a celebration of heritage and the comforting warmth that only home-cooked food can offer. ❤️

Have you tried it yet? Let us know what you think in the comments! 👇

Join us tomorrow at 10am for a free Family Music Session with the fantastic facilitators from IMM-Music. 👶🎵From lively s...
14/01/2025

Join us tomorrow at 10am for a free Family Music Session with the fantastic facilitators from IMM-Music. 👶🎵

From lively sing-alongs, arts & crafts to gentle movement exercises, this session promises fun-filled moments for both parent and child to enjoy together.

Whether you’re a seasoned music enthusiast or simply looking for a fun and meaningful activity to share with your child, these sessions offer something special for everyone. We welcome all residents from Cheetham and Crumpsall.

Book for free: https://www.manchesterjewishmuseum.com/activitie/family-music-sessions-parent-toddler/

📣Join us on Sunday, 26 January, for our Museum Open Day as we mark Holocaust Memorial Day 2025. 🕯Over the last few month...
13/01/2025

📣Join us on Sunday, 26 January, for our Museum Open Day as we mark Holocaust Memorial Day 2025. 🕯

Over the last few months the museum has been collaborating with a group of children from the Homework Club at Ntcg Faith Tabernacle, Cheetham Hill. Ranging in age from 6 – 13, the children have been exploring stories from the museum’s collection, learning more about the experiences of Jewish refugees during the Second World War.

In response to the stories, they have been creating artworks on this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day theme of ‘For a Better Future’. These artworks share the children’s ideas and hopes for Cheetham in the future, including ways in which we can continue to make the city a welcoming place for people arriving to Manchester.

Come to our Museum Open Day, designed by the Homework Club – expect food, artworks and creative activities, including a Make Your Own Fabric Bookmark workshop. You will also get a chance to explore our 1874 Spanish and Portuguese synagogue and museum galleries and enjoy dishes from our vegetarian Cafe, inspired by stories from our collection.

Book free entry:

ome to our Museum Open Day, designed by the Homework Club at NTCG Faith Tabernacle, Cheetham Hill. Expect food, artworks and creative activities, including a Make Your Own Fabric Bookmark workshop.

We found a field diary from the First World War! 📖This week we delved into the archives and found the field diary of for...
09/01/2025

We found a field diary from the First World War! 📖

This week we delved into the archives and found the field diary of former WW1 soldier Solomon Ash, in which he describes his long journey from Palestine to England in January and February 1920. 🚢

Solomon Ash was born in 1899. He entered the war in a non combatant role, helping to cater for the army. By the end of the war, he had served in both Palestine and Egypt alongside the Egyptian Expeditionary Force.

His field diary details his experiences after the end of the conflict and his journey back home from Palestine to England in 1920. Due to his role in catering, the diary mentions a lot about the meals he served and ate and his evenings away from his station visiting the local bazaars and cafes. There are lots of photographs of him and his fellow troops exploring the local environment. 🐫

He describes one night as being ‘very sharp, something like English weather’ which seems especially apt with the weather this week! ❄️

He talks about his journey home which involves several trains and back to back ship journeys through Malta and Gibraltar towards the UK. He details how him and many of his fellow troops felt seasick at this stage of the journey especially as the waves became more choppy. 🌊

Our favourite entry is from January 31st, when they spotted the ‘sprays of whales in the water’ as well as ‘large fins of sharks’ just before they docked in Gibraltar. 🐋

Once they drew closer to England, they noticed lots more battleships and submarines in the Harbour and he names the Queen Elizabeth and Warspite as notable examples. He also noticed a considerable drop in temperature the closer they drew to English shores!

Have you ever made a long ship journey, and what was it like? Let us know in the comments below! 👇

We were deeply saddened to hear about the loss of Chadlia Chouhani who passed away in December. Chadlia played a pivotal...
07/01/2025

We were deeply saddened to hear about the loss of Chadlia Chouhani who passed away in December.

Chadlia played a pivotal role in the development of our new museum and in our community. She will be greatly missed by all of us. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family now.

Address

190 Cheetham Hill Road
Manchester
M88

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 5pm
Tuesday 10am - 5pm
Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm
Sunday 10am - 5pm

Telephone

0161 834 9879

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