Technically speaking, the Jewish Museum of Maryland is closed to the public until next summer due to a massive renovation and overhaul of its campus at 15 Lloyd Street in East Baltimore’s Jonestown neighborhood.
But the JMM’s core mission — to promote and preserve Jewish experiences, history, culture and stories — goes on and is more relevant than ever.
An agency of The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore, the museum recently announced it is launching a time capsule of sorts, called “Time of Turmoil: A Digital Journal.”
The objective of “Time of Turmoil” is to serve as a space and vehicle where members of the local Jewish community can record their observations and mourn the tragedies unfolding since the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in southern Israel and during the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
“This unique collection will be preserved within the JMM archives for use by future generations,” the museum posted on social media. “Entries will be held securely, and access to them will be restricted for a minimum of 10 years. At this time, there is no plan to publicly present these responses; this is an effort to capture and convey how it feels to witness this moment in history for future generations.”
Said Sol Davis, the museum’s executive director: “The JMM launched this initiative to give Jewish Marylanders a place to document their experiences of this watershed moment in Jewish history for posterity. The intent of this collection, which we have framed as a digital time capsule, is to give future generations a resource for learning about how Jewish Marylanders experienced this time from a contemporaneous perspective.”
The JMM said participants can share their responses “to one or more of the questions and prompts listed, as well as any additional thoughts you would like to volunteer. You can record a video (up to 5 minutes) and/or leave a written response, with up to two photos to supplement your response.”
Participants are welcome to indicate if they wish to be identified or remain anonymous. Some demographic information will be requested by the museum “to help us confirm that we are capturing a range of the different experiences that exist in Jewish Maryland.”
Because of the fluid situation in the Middle East, the museum invites all participants to submit multiple responses over a period of time “to fully share your experiences and help future generations better understand how Jewish Marylanders witnessed this tumultuous period. If you choose to submit multiple answers, please make sure you use the same display name so they can be connected.”
For information, visit jewish-museum-of-maryland.boast.io/form/timeofturmoil
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