Winnick Gallery in New York City Features Rare Treasures Illuminating Jewish History

Center for Jewish History is now the largest repository of Jewish history and experience outside of the State of Israel, preserving, protecting and presenting more than 500,000 books and 100 million documents.

New York, NY (PRWEB) February 24, 2011

Winnick Hall, the principal art gallery for Yeshiva University Museum which is located at Manhattan’s Center for Jewish History, is now providing a rare look at selected Jewish history treasures, gathered from collections of the American Jewish Historical Society, the American Sephardi Federation, the Leo Baeck Institute, Yeshiva University Museum, and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.

The exhibit, entitled “Zero to Ten,” continues through May 29 and honors the tenth anniversary of the Center for Jewish History. The Center is now the largest repository of Jewish history and experience outside of the State of Israel, preserving, protecting and presenting more than 500,000 books and 100 million documents and including pieces of art, textiles, ritual objects, as well as music, films and photographs.

Gary Winnick said: “My family and I are delighted to provide a venue for this extraordinary exhibition. The items on exhibit now are just a small part of the Center’s vast collection, but sufficient to illuminate and celebrate the rich history of Judaism to the diverse and international audiences that pass through the Center.”

The treasures on display include:

• A Torah scroll belonging to the Baal Shem Tov (1700-1760), founder of Hassidism. This Torah features lines written in his own hand.
• “Dutch Masters in the Rose Room “ by Larry Rivers (1997) (born Yitzroch Loiza Grossberg). This is a playful oil and canvas work based on a conflation of the iconic Dutch Masters cigar box and a Rembrandt group portrait, among other popular and art historical motifs.
• “The Trial of the Jews of Trent,” 1478-1479, ink, gouache and gold on paper. Written for the first Duke of Würtemberg, Eberhardt I, and bearing his arms, this is the only known German copy of the records of the Trials of the Jews of Trent, falsely accused of the ritual murder of a young Christian boy named Simon in 1475.

The “Zero to Ten” exhibit is curated by the Yeshiva University Museum and organized by the Center for Jewish History. Principal funding for the exhibit was provided by The David Berg Foundation, with additional support from the Kumble Cultural Fund, the Selz Family Cultural Fund and the Slovin Foundation. The Winnick Hall gallery was established with a grant from the Winnick Family Foundation.

About the Winnick Family Foundation

The Winnick Family Foundation encourages project-specific programs but also selectively supports capital campaigns and unrestricted gifts to grantee organizations. There is a preference for projects in Los Angeles and New York – or for those having an international component.

Foundation naming grants include:

• Winnick Family Clinical Research Institute at Cedars Sinai Hospital
• Winnick House at the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University
• Arnold S. Winnick Student Center at the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University
• Winnick International Conference Center at the Simon Wiesenthal Center / Jerusalem
• Winnick Children’s Zoo in Los Angeles
• Winnick Faculty Scholar at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University
• Winnick Hall at the Skirball Cultural Center
• Arnold & Blanche Winnick Popular Library and Karen Winnick Children’s Gallery at the Los Angeles Central Library
• Winnick Hillel House at Syracuse University
• Winnick Board Room at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City
• Winnick Winners Mentoring Program for the Los Angeles Unified School District
• Winnick Fellows at UCLA School of Medicine
• Winnick Gallery at Yeshiva University Museum, Center for Jewish History

Karen and Gary Winnick and the Foundation have endowed university and high school literacy and scholarship programs at Brown University, at Mrs. Winnick’s alma mater Syracuse University, and at Gary Winnick’s alma mater, Long Island University.

They have also funded the transformation of the on-campus C.W. Post mansion administrative center – renamed Winnick House – as well as the main cafeteria which is now named in honor of Mr. Winnick’s late father.

In California, the Foundation has supported educational programs at the California Science Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, KOREH L.A., the Los Angeles Zoo, L.A.’s Best Afterschool Program, the Wonder of Reading, the Fulfillment Fund and Noah’s Ark at the Skirball Center.

Among the many other Foundation grantees are the Special Olympics, The Center for Jewish History, Children’s Scholarship Fund, Partnership for Better Schools, Teach for America, The Gettysburg Foundation, The National Parks Foundation, Best Friends Animal Society, The Los Angeles Police Foundation, Shoah Foundation, and the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University.

The Foundation also supports charities operating outside the United States, including the International Medical Corps, Flora and Fauna, World Wildlife Fund, the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, the Israel Museum, the Israel Philharmonic, the Jerusalem Zoo, Heifer International and the Bloomfield Science Museum at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. For more information on the Foundation and its work, visit http://www.winnickfamilyfoundation.com on the Web.

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