A Testament to Jewish Concern for Worldwide Harmony

It was a curious sight: A group of women in their mid-20's bent over a table of Jewish holiday art work, carefully rubbing their crayons over paper-covered images. Nearby, 60-somethings perused giant challah roll sculptures and played with plastic food in a mock kitchen.

No more than a dozen people under the age of 20, in fact, could be found Sunday night at Brooklyn, N.Y.'s Jewish Children's Museum. Instead of children, some 350 adults packed the Chabad-Lubavitch institution's corridors and exhibits to see first-hand how the museum teaches tolerance to people of all ages, backgrounds and ethnicities. Waiting for them was a lavish feast of dishes from multiple cultures, all in honor of the program's third-annual dinner.

"I wish we brought Sam here," said one mother after looking at pictures taken of her crawling through the challah roll, part of the museum's Shabbat exhibit.

"It's my daughter Mia's favorite," said the other.

As her husband Jay nodded in agreement, 64-year-old Marianna Watnick proclaimed the museum – which since its opening in the city's Crown Heights section has drawn more than half a million visitors – simply "amazing." Her favorite exhibit was the kosher kitchen, which sports a talking fridge that teaches about Judaism's dietary laws and a kosher cooking show featuring kids as the chefs.

"I wish I had this when I was a kid," said Watnick.

But the evening was more than just a chance for guests to enjoy their inner-children. It instead focused on the responsibility to foster understanding among today's youth, its date providing a reminder of the dangers of intolerance. Just three days before was the anniversary of the death of Ari Halberstam, a 14-year-old Chabad-Lubavitch yeshiva student who was gunned down by a terrorist on the Brooklyn Bridge in 1994.

During an assembly later that night, Devorah Halberstam, the boy's mother and a driving force behind the creation of the museum, told the dinner's attendees – which included New York City policemen and agents from the FBI – about the emphasis Judaism places on improving one's world.

"Devorie has taken something bad and turned it into something good," said former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. "We should learn from her."

The sentiment echoed that of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, who wrote a letter to the dinner's organizers lauding the "inspiring vision and commitment" of Halberstam.

Turning to the specifics of the 1994 attack, WCBS television news personality Lou Young spoke about the importance of shaping young minds.

"A child is, by definition, innocent," said Young. "The killing of a child is the last thing that we will ever forgive."

At the museum, "we find hope in each child," he continued, giving credit to the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of righteous memory, for his passion for education. "This is a place of understanding and knowledge that will delight a child's mind and nourish it."

The museum is a way to "instruct Jewish children on their heritage and of their culture," asserted Young. But it also serves "to instruct others on [Jewish] ideas and their traditions."

Said the broadcaster: It is "an institution that fosters tolerance."

For his part, U.S. Attorney Gen. Michael Mukasey, who couldn't attend the dinner because of a Cabinet meeting, delivered a pre-recorded greeting from his Washington, D.C., office.

"One of the features of Jewish life is [that] we retell the events that underlie our traditions," said Mukasey. "We do that not only to teach our children about what defines Jews as a people, but also to ensure that we do not forget those lessons ourselves."

Mukasey then honored museum supporters Serge Hoyda of S&H Equities and Jason Curry, president of Gruss Life Monument Funds. Each received gifts from Rabbi Yerachmiel Benjaminson, director of Tzivos Hashem, the Chabad-Lubavitch children's organization, and the museum's executive director.

Youth Outreach Growing

Before the speeches, attendees remarked how much fun it was to learn about Judaism through a child's eyes.

Alton Murray, 23, was getting acquainting with such Jewish religious item as a kiddush cup and a wedding canopy while playing a couple rounds of miniature golf on the museum's fifth floor. The objects served as obstacles planted throughout the course.

"I am learning their meaning from the signs," said Murray. "It's great."

"It is growing, just like us," Rose Yavarkovsky, 91, a longtime Tzivos Hashem supporter, said of the museum.

Eric Sussman, 48, said that the museum experience was "heartwarming."

In the 1960s, Sussman visited Crown Heights in one of the first Chabad-Lubavitch programs designed to engage young children in exploring their Jewish heritage. He toured a neighborhood matzah bakery, spent a traditional Shabbat with a local family and, in the highlight of the trip, attended a Chasidic gathering presided over by the Rebbe.

"This is a sweet place," said the man, "a place [that] others could learn from."

Young was more succinct: "This [museum] is what the future is all about.'