Sharon Tobin Kestenbaum isn’t doing this job for herself.
The first woman to officially lead the board of the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History said that her work is designed to improve the standing of her community, but that some influence may hopefully strike close to home, too.
“I didn’t realize that I was the first woman to lead the board,” she said. “But that’s just another reason to be a role model for my daughter and other women in the community. I have four boys and a girl, and I always want them to see my husband and I contributing to the community so that they become more active, too.”
Tobin Kestenbaum, a third-generation member of Har Zion Temple in Penn Valley, took over as co-chairperson of the board in late 2021 with Joseph S. Zuritsky. Since then, the museum’s relevance has been further enhanced in the wake of the Oct. 7 terror attacks in Israel, the war that ensued and the rise in antisemitic attacks across the U.S. and around the world. Now, she said, the Weitzman needs to educate American non-Jews about the contributions made by Jews in this nation.
“That’s more important now than ever,” she said. “I feel that people are looking for a place to go and to find community, and the doors at the Weitzman are always open — and people are reaching out now more than ever.”
Emily August, chief public engagement officer at the Weitzman, said that the museum has seen a host of changes — good and bad — since last October.
“Hate mail has been relatively minimal. There has been some vandalism and damage to some of the signs we have on the building, including our sculpture and the sign about bringing home the hostages,” August said. “But I would say that the positive far outweighs the negative.”
August said that people came in droves following Oct. 7 to learn about the crisis and history of the conflict, many explicitly stating their lack of knowledge about Israel, the Jewish community and the history of Jews in America. The museum was prepared.
“Our strategies to counter antisemitism and our work had been evolving before this, but I would say that pieces of it were sort of amplified and crystallized in the wake of Oct. 7,” August said.
Today, the museum focuses on ensuring that its message can be received by Jews and non-Jews. Tobin Kestenbaum said she knew she wanted to be involved when there were discussions about shifting the museum’s content.
“We were reimagining the core exhibit and what the museum was going to be moving forward,” she said. “I felt that stepping into this role would enable me to be part of this reimagining and part of the decisions about where we go in the future.”
Tobin Kestenbaum said that the Weitzman is a place for Philadelphia residents, non-Philadelphians, Jews and non-Jews.
“It’s a place for everyone, but we also want to make sure we are a place where Jewish people will go for gathering, not just information,” she said. “We want to reach out to all forms of Judaism, too — Jews of color, Sephardic Jews, Ashkenazi Jews, northern Jews, southern Jews and more.”
The most exciting potential change on the horizon for the museum is a bill in the House of Representatives that would investigate transferring the ownership of the private museum to the Smithsonian Institution. This would give the Weitzman more prestige, open it up to more public funding and attract a new crowd to the facilities.
The Smithsonian is the world’s largest museum complex, with more than 21 museums located across the Washington, D.C., area and New York.
The Weitzman was previously known as the National Museum of American Jewish History until a gift from shoe designer Stuart Weitzman, which totaled in the tens of millions, was given to the museum in 2021. The gift from Weitzman allowed for the purchase of the museum’s current home in Center City.
Tobin Kestenbaum, a former real estate agent, said she thinks all of this adds up to the museum being in a better place than ever before, even considering the current political climate.
“People are reaching out more than ever — the White House reached out to us for guidance,” she said. “We are proud to be supporting Israel, and we are proud of all the work the Weitzman is doing and the country is doing to combat antisemitism.”
