At its best, the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History is an educational journey for adults.

You walk through the exhibitions, read the descriptions, look at the pictures and artifacts, and quickly gain a deeper understanding of the Jewish story in America.

But while the Weitzman would host family events in the past, it didn’t really have a dedicated space for children and families.

That changed July 22, when the museum opened its “Colors of Creation Family Gallery,” according to a news release.

The Weitzman describes the exhibition as a “vivid, interactive, panoramic experience” that is a 360-degree “journey through the seven days of creation.” In other words, it’s Bereishit, the first Torah portion of the annual cycle, in living color.

Its features include “concert-style lighting, interactive projections, and an original musical score that shifts, layers, and transforms in real time as visitors interact with the space.”

“Every gesture activates sound, light, and imagery, creating an experience unlike anything else in Philadelphia,” it added.

“Colors of Creation is The Weitzman like you’ve never seen us before,” said Dan Tadmor, the museum’s president and CEO, in the announcement. “We started with a story that we all know to create this visually stunning — and most importantly, fun — space for families and visitors of all ages. It’s also a glimpse of where The Weitzman is headed: a museum where stories come alive.”

The gallery is part of a yearlong America 250 effort by the Weitzman to help prove itself as a potential Smithsonian Institution, a transfer that is currently being evaluated by a congressionally mandated study commission.

In April, the museum opened its “First Salute” exhibition, which tells the story of the tiny Caribbean island — St. Eustatius — that became the first foreign nation to recognize the United States during the American Revolution.

The exhibition also tells the story of how British Adm. George Rodney blamed the island’s Jewish population and responded by stripping them of their property and possessions. His focus on St. Eustatius allowed French ships to cross the Atlantic and provide support to the U.S. during the Battle of Yorktown, considered the decisive victory of the war. Jews also played a role in shipping gunpowder and other necessities to the Continental Army, which was part of the reason Rodney blamed them.

“The First Salute” will remain open through April 2027. But the other two exhibitions in the Weitzman’s America 250 effort will be permanent.

The second is “Colors of Creation.” The third will be an exhibit devoted to contemporary antisemitism.

It will feature three-minute videos in which American Jews will discuss their experiences with anti-Jewish hate. As Tadmor explained, “it’s not Tree of Life; it’s not the Capital Jewish Museum shooting; it’s not Colleyville.” Those were prominent, tragic incidents. These are day-to-day experiences, he said. This is the best way to tell the story in an era when antisemitic incidents keep rising year to year, Tadmor noted.

In 2024, Congress passed a bill, signed in December by then-President Joe Biden, that created an eight-member panel of experts to make a recommendation on whether the Weitzman should join the Smithsonian, the federal government-run organization of museums and educational centers. The panel is still being formed.

In the spring, the Weitzman also announced that it was in the process of raising $100 million to reimagine its core exhibition on American Jewish history. That effort is separate from its America 250 additions. The museum has already raised $50 million toward its $100 million goal.

“The Weitzman’s core exhibition has walked visitors through the arc of American Jewish history,” Tadmor said at the time of the announcement. “Now we are rethinking how we engage today’s audiences, using technology, media and interactive storytelling to create a museum experience that is more immersive, more family-friendly and more deeply connected to the questions Americans are asking today.”

In its news release about “Colors of Creation,” the Weitzman said the gallery was “designed to be inclusive of faith traditions and scientific understanding while encouraging responsibility and stewardship of our world, as well as mindfulness of its wonder.”

The exhibition includes several interactive features: “A small hand gesture sends clouds zooming across the sky, a step on the floor scatters luminous fish across a pond, the wave of an arm creates an entire field of stars and a jump in the air releases a burst of butterflies,” the release said.

“Colors of Creation imagines the creation of the world as an expanding color palette — an immersive playground full of awe and discovery that families can explore again and again,” said Ariel Efron, the creative director at FELT, the boutique experience design studio that designed “Colors of Creation.” “The experience invites visitors to see the world not as something ordinary, but as something alive with beauty and possibility. In a time that can feel so divided, we hope Colors of Creation becomes a shared space of hope, optimism, and wonder.”

jsaffren@midatlanticmedia.com