{"id":254457,"date":"2026-07-29T09:25:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T09:25:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/254457\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T09:25:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T09:25:21","slug":"weitzman-museum-opens-new-exhibition-for-children-and-families-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/254457\/","title":{"rendered":"Weitzman Museum Opens New Exhibition for Children and Families"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History\u2019s new \u201cColors of Creation Family Gallery.\u201d (Photo credit: Shoot From Within)<\/p>\n

At its best, the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History is an educational journey for adults.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

But while the Weitzman would host family events in the past, it didn\u2019t really have a dedicated space for children and families.<\/p>\n

That changed July 22, when the museum opened its \u201cColors of Creation Family Gallery,\u201d according to a news release<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Weitzman describes the exhibition as a \u201cvivid, interactive, panoramic experience\u201d that is a 360-degree \u201cjourney through the seven days of creation.\u201d In other words, it\u2019s Bereishit, the first Torah portion of the annual cycle, in living color.<\/p>\n

Its features include \u201cconcert-style lighting, interactive projections, and an original musical score that shifts, layers, and transforms in real time as visitors interact with the space.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery gesture activates sound, light, and imagery, creating an experience unlike anything else in Philadelphia,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

\u201cColors of Creation is The Weitzman like you\u2019ve never seen us before,\u201d said Dan Tadmor, the museum\u2019s president and CEO, in the announcement. \u201cWe started with a story that we all know to create this visually stunning \u2014 and most importantly, fun \u2014 space for families and visitors of all ages. It\u2019s also a glimpse of where The Weitzman is headed: a museum where stories come alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History\u2019s new \u201cColors of Creation Family Gallery.\u201d (Photo credit: Shoot From Within)<\/p>\n

The gallery is part of a yearlong America 250 effort<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

In April, the museum opened its \u201cFirst Salute\u201d exhibition<\/a>, which tells the story of the tiny Caribbean island \u2014 St. Eustatius \u2014 that became the first foreign nation to recognize the United States during the American Revolution.<\/p>\n

The exhibition also tells the story of how British Adm. George Rodney blamed the island\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History\u2019s new \u201cColors of Creation Family Gallery.\u201d (Photo credit: Shoot From Within)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe First Salute\u201d will remain open through April 2027. But the other two exhibitions in the Weitzman\u2019s America 250 effort will be permanent.<\/p>\n

The second is \u201cColors of Creation.\u201d The third will be an exhibit devoted to contemporary antisemitism.<\/p>\n

It will feature three-minute videos in which American Jews will discuss their experiences with anti-Jewish hate. As Tadmor explained, \u201cit\u2019s not Tree of Life; it\u2019s not the Capital Jewish Museum shooting; it\u2019s not Colleyville.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>, the federal government-run organization of museums and educational centers. The panel is still being formed.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>. That effort is separate from its America 250 additions. The museum has already raised $50 million toward its $100 million goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Weitzman\u2019s core exhibition has walked visitors through the arc of American Jewish history,\u201d Tadmor said at the time of the announcement. \u201cNow we are rethinking how we engage today\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History\u2019s new \u201cColors of Creation Family Gallery.\u201d (Photo credit: Shoot From Within)<\/p>\n

In its news release about \u201cColors of Creation,\u201d the Weitzman said the gallery was \u201cdesigned to be inclusive of faith traditions and scientific understanding while encouraging responsibility and stewardship of our world, as well as mindfulness of its wonder.\u201d<\/p>\n

The exhibition includes several interactive features: \u201cA 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,\u201d the release said.<\/p>\n

\u201cColors of Creation imagines the creation of the world as an expanding color palette \u2014 an immersive playground full of awe and discovery that families can explore again and again,\u201d said Ariel Efron, the creative director at FELT, the boutique experience design studio that designed \u201cColors of Creation.\u201d \u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

jsaffren@midatlanticmedia.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History\u2019s new \u201cColors of Creation Family Gallery.\u201d (Photo credit: Shoot From…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[182,139,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-254457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}