Jewish American Heritage Month
Resources
Jewish American Heritage Month (JAHM) is a unique opportunity to highlight the history of Jewish Americans and to celebrate their contributions to our country. We have created a collection of educational resources that you can share with your community leaders, your school administration and educators, and elected representatives so they can engage with Jewish American Heritage Month. Let’s make this a meaningful month of inclusion together!
Local Events
Attend a JAHM event to celebrate with our community.
May 7, 4:30 – 7:30 pm
Join the Cardozo Society’s Spring Continuing Legal Education (CLE) featuring a panel with Jewish lawmakers in Washington State. This event features State Senator Jesse Salomon, State Representative Roger Goodman, Secretary Tana Senn, and former State Senator Reuven Carlyle.
May 17, 3:00 – 5:00 pm
Join the Washington State Jewish Historical Society for a special community event in honor of Jewish American Heritage Month and commemorating the leadership and service of long-time Executive Director Lisa Kranseler.
May 18, 1:00 – 2:30 pm
Every family has a story waiting to be uncovered. In honor of Jewish American Heritage Month, join award-winning author Karen Treiger as she guides you through the essential steps of researching Jewish ancestry. Whether you’re just beginning or looking to take research further, Karen will offer practical techniques, resources, and insights drawn from her work on “My Soul Is Filled with Joy” and “Standing on the Crack.”
May 18 – June 7
In honor of Jewish American Heritage Month (May), come to the Holocaust Center for Humanity to explore Twenty Years of Jewish Storytelling, an exhibit honoring the work of the Washington State Jewish Historical Society. More than a retrospective, Twenty Years of Jewish Storytelling is a living, traveling legacy. Visitors will be invited not only to explore the past, but also to contribute to the future through its expanding digital museum, the Washington Jewish Museum. Offered in partnership with the Washington State Jewish Historical Society.
June 4, 4:00 – 7:00 pm
Join the Holocaust Center for Humanity and the Washington State Jewish Historical Society for a special First Thursday celebration of Washington State Jewish history.
May 26, 6:30 – 8:00 pm
Our May Book Club pick, in honor of Jewish American Heritage Month, is Heart of a Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi’s Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging by Angela Buchdahl—a powerful memoir exploring her journey as the first Asian American ordained rabbi and cantor and her search for identity, belonging, and what it means to be Jewish in America.
May 27, 6:00 – 7:00 pm
This Washington State Jewish Historical Society presentation traces the reconstruction of a family history in the early 1900s, spanning Russia, Siberia, Asia, and the Pacific Northwest. Drawing on his family’s oral history interviews, archival materials, and personal discovery, Ken Baronsky explores how memory, research, and storytelling can come together to share stories and honor lives that might otherwise be forgotten.
May 31, 1:00 – 3:00 pm
Celebrate Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander and Jewish American Heritage Month with an afternoon of creative flow, floral design, and community connection. This workshop bridges the traditional greenery of Shavuot with the intentional art of Ikebana, exploring how we ‘arrange’ our diverse lineages to pass on beauty and wisdom. Join us to create your own “Seattle in Bloom” masterpiece while honoring the unique roots that shape our Asian-Jewish identities. This event is open to Asian American Jews and their +1 guests.
Books, Movies, TV Shows, and History
Explore creative content that brings Jewish culture and experiences to life.
From the Library of Congress and partner federal agencies, this official JAHM hub honors generations of Jewish Americans and explores their contributions to U.S. history through archives, exhibits, and educational resources.
A curated selection of books, podcasts, tv shows, and movies from the Weitzman Museum that bring Jewish stories and voices to life.
Explore the Washington State Jewish Historical Society’s oral history collection and listen to the stories of Jewish individuals from across Washington State. The collection celebrates the diverse voices, traditions, migrations, and resilience of Jewish life in Washington State.
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Resources for Schools
Tools for families and educators to bring JAHM into classrooms and spark meaningful conversation.
Explore recommendations for celebrating JAHM in schools, including events, educational resources, and community engagement opportunities, curated by the Federation’s Jewish Community Relations Council.
The JCRC sent this letter to all 313 school districts, ESDs, tribal schools and charter networks in Washington state as well as 25 targeted independent schools in the Puget Sound region. Share this letter with your school’s leadership to encourage them to celebrate JAHM.
The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History has a new curriculum, Stories That Shaped a Nation: Jewish Lives in America. Listen to our recent webinar about how this curriculum challenges antisemitism and brings the civic, artistic, and cultural dimensions of Jewish peoplehood into classrooms.
This is a non-exhaustive list of books that celebrate aspects of Jewish identity or Jewish historical figures, divided by the suggested reading age group. There is also a list of Jewish authors who write about both Jewish identity and other subject areas. Please share this list with your school librarian to create a display of books that center Jewish American identities and peoplehood and a display of famous Jewish authors!
Elected Officials & Community Leaders
Formally support and recognize JAHM in public and civic spaces.
Join the Federation and the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History for a presentation about their new curriculum, Stories That Shaped a Nation: Jewish Lives in America.
Last month, the Federation launched Shared Table, a pilot program bringing together dozens of Jews from across Greater Seattle with diverse religious and political perspectives.
A four-part webinar series designed to help Jewish communal leaders, professionals, and community members better understand the complex and evolving landscape of immigration policy and enforcement.
May is Jewish American Heritage Month, making it a particularly meaningful opportunity to educate our elected officials about our Jewish community and talk about the issues that matter to us. The Federation’s Jewish Community Relations Council will be doing an advocacy fly-in to Washington, D.C., in May, and we hope you can join us!
