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The Jewish Museum has just completed a major renovation. Here are 7 highlights.
Following a yearlong, $14.5 million renovation, the Jewish Museum — which is housed a 1908 French Gothic mansion on Fifth Avenue — is opening two upgraded floors to the public.
Among the new features on the museum’s reimagined third and fourth floors: a new installation, “Identity, Culture and Community: Stories from the Collections of the Jewish Museum,” which spotlights 200 items from the museum’s permanent collection; four galleries for rotating exhibits and new acquisitions and the Pruzan Family Center for Learning, featuring art-making studios, a touch wall, and an interactive, simulated archaeological dig.
The renovation is the brainchild of the museum’s director, James Snyder, who assumed the helm of the 121-year-old institution in November 2023, following stints as the director of the Israel Museum and deputy director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
The renovation “gave us the opportunity to think through an entirely new narrative, an entirely new strategy for what we are all about,” Snyder said during a press event on Tuesday.
“These are complex times — they have been for a while. They’re getting more and more complex every day,” Snyder said. “Our job, particularly for culturally specific museums like this one, is to be the antidote to what’s really a pandemic today — to the xenophobia, the racism, the ignorance that is prevalent everywhere now.”
Here are seven things to see and do at the renovated Jewish Museum’s new galleries.
1. Marc Chagall’s “Self-Portrait with Palette” (1917)
Marc Chagall’s “Self-Portrait with Palette” (1917) is among the new acquisitions at the Jewish Museum. (Jackie Hajdenberg)
This self-portrait by the lauded Jewish artist is in the Cubist style. An oil on canvas, the painting shows Chagall as a young man holding a brush and palette, with his hometown of Vitebsk (in today’s Belarus) in the background.
When the portrait was painted — during the Russian Revolution — Chagall had just returned home after three years at a Parisian art school in order to marry his childhood sweetheart, Bella Rosenfeld, who modeled for many of his works.
The painting, a new acquisition by the museum, was previously in a private collection. It was last publicly exhibited at the Tefaf New York art fair at the Park Avenue Armory in 2022. It hangs “in conversation” with a newly acquired piece by Alice Neel, titled “Nazis Murder Jews,” from 1936, an unusually non-abstract work by Mark Rothko that shows a deconstructed crucifix, and three paintings by Romanian-Israeli painter Reuven Rubin.
2. 130+ Hanukkah lamps, from ancient times to the present
A glass case of more than 130 Hanukkah lamps is part of the Jewish Museum’s identity and culture exhibit, drawn from the museum’s collection. (Jackie Hajdenberg)
The Jewish Museum has more than 1,400 Hanukkah menorahs in its collection, and as part of its new, fourth-floor learning center, more than 130 are on display in a space that is open to a double-height gallery on the third floor.
The installation — featuring menorahs from across the globe, antiquity to the present day — is meant to accentuate “the central meaning of light as a symbol of enlightenment and hope across cultures,” per a press release.
Particular highlights include oil lamps from the 2nd to 1st century BCE, as well as a “Menurkey” — a turkey-shaped menorah, devised by 9-year-old Asher Weintraub in 2013, when Thanksgiving and Hanukkah overlapped for the first time since 1888.
3. “The Return of the Volunteer from the Wars of Liberation to His Family Still Living in Accordance with Old Customs” (1833–34) by Moritz Daniel Oppenheim
‘The Return of the Volunteer from the Wars of Liberation to His Family Still Living in Accordance with Old Customs” by Moritz Daniel Oppenheim. (Courtesy The Jewish Museum)
Considered to be the first Jewish painter in the modern era, Moritz Daniel Oppenheim — born in 1800 in Hanau, Germany — is known for being the first Jew to receive a formal arts education in Europe.
Many of Oppenheim’s works — which are on view at the museum as part of its permanent collection — showcase intimate portraits of Jewish life in Europe. Considered his masterpiece, “The Return of the Volunteer,” depicts a young German Jewish man returning home after helping defend Germany against the Napoleonic armies just as his family is welcoming Shabbat. (Note the challah and kiddush cup on the table.)
Oppenheim created the painting during a time of civil unrest following the 1830 revolutions in France, when some German states passed repressive legislation against the Jews. Per the Jewish Museum, “This painting has been interpreted as a reminder to Germans of the significant role played by Jews in the Wars of Liberation, and its political overtones are unusual in the generally apolitical nature of Biedermeier art.”
4. Letters between George Washington and Moses Seixas
A letter exchange between Touro Synagogue president Moses Seixas and American President George Washington. (Jackie Hajdenberg)
Part of the new “Identity, Culture and Community” exhibit is a section on Jews in the Colonial Era. A highlight here are letters from 1790 between new American President George Washington and Moses Seixas, the president of Jeshuat Israel of Newport, Rhode Island, now known as the Touro Synagogue — the oldest synagogue in the United States.
Washington came to Rhode Island after the state ratified the United States Constitution in order to promote the passing of the Bill of Rights; upon Washington’s arrival in Newport, Seixas read a letter aloud to the president, in which he expressed optimism at the freedom of religion that Americans would see in this new country.
“May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants —,” Washington wrote in response, adding a quotation from scripture, “while everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid.”
The letters are so delicate they’re kept under a window blind that visitors manually pull up and down, to minimize exposure to light.
5. A child-friendly mock archaeology dig
Visitors of all ages can dig for replicas of real ancient artifacts in the Jewish Museum’s newly renovated dig room. (Jackie Hajdenberg)
As part of the Pruzan Family Center for Learning, the Jewish Museum’s new mock archeology dig is three times larger than the previous version. Here, as part of the visitors can dig through four pits, each centered around a different era in time, for replicas of real artifacts, such as an Ottoman-era copper alloy coffeepot from Jerusalem, an ancient Roman oil lamp and a calcite-alabaster jar from ancient Egypt circa 1550 BCE.
The real versions of those artifacts — most of them newly on display in the room — are also on display, accompanied by kid-friendly language. Families are provided with an “Archaeologist’s Notebook” to keep track of their finds.
6. “in full command of every plan you wrecked” (2024) by Zoë Buckman
“in full command of every plan you wrecked” by Zoë Buckman is on view at the Jewish Museum as part of the third floor’s rotating exhibitions. (Jackie Hajdenberg)
Zoë Buckman, 40, is a British Jewish artist whose work has been featured in the UK’s National Portrait Gallery and who has emerged as a prominent voice among artists on antisemitism in the wake of the Gaza war. This ink, acrylic and hand-embroidered piece is Buckman’s debut at the Jewish Museum, which is part of her “Who by Fire” series exploring Jewish personhood.
Located on a third-floor gallery, Buckman’s work depicts a woman sitting on a chair; the piece’s name, “in full command of every plan you wrecked,” a reference to a Leonard Cohen lyric from “Alexandra Leaving.” The loose threads — typically found on the back of such woven pieces — subvert expectations of traditional feminine and domestic textile work.
7. A retrospective on the early works of Anish Kapoor
Some of the early sculptural pigment works of Anish Kapoor at the Jewish Museum. (Jackie Hajdenberg)
Born in India in 1954 to a Punjabi Hindu father and an Iraqi Jewish mother from Mumbai, Anish Kapoor rose to prominence as an artist exploring matter, non-matter, space and voids. “Anish Kapoor: Early Works,” on view until Feb. 26, 2026, is the first American museum presentation showcasing Kapoor’s works from the late 1970s and early 1980s, “when he was still the classic starving artist,” per the New York Times.
Snyder and Kapoor — a winner of the prestigious Genesis Prize — have previously collaborated on exhibits at MoMA and the Israel Museum; the Jewish Museum exhibit opens on Friday alongside the museum’s newly reimagined floors. “He is about this narrative of the experience of the Diaspora and what it does to artists,” Snyder said of Kapoor.
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Amsterdam Police Probe New Blast Claimed by Same Group That Claimed Jewish School Explosion
Police officers stand outside a Jewish school following an explosion that caused minor damages, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, March 14, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
Dutch police are investigating an explosion that damaged an office building in Amsterdam and was claimed by the same extremist organization which also claimed it was behind a recent blast at a Jewish school in the area, a police spokesperson said on Monday.
It was not immediately clear if the building has a link to Amsterdam‘s Jewish community.
Officers were investigating the explosion, which led to a small fire that was quickly extinguished by security guards and caused minor damage, the spokesperson said, adding that police were examining whether the two incidents were indeed linked.
Sienna Investment Managers, which manages the building, did not immediately reply to an emailed request for comment.
Saturday’s explosion, for which the same group claimed responsibility, caused minor damage to a Jewish school. Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema and Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten condemned the attack.
The group has also claimed earlier attacks on synagogues in Rotterdam and in neighboring Belgium’s Liege. The attacks had already triggered heightened security at Jewish sites in Amsterdam.
Justice Minister David van Weel said on Saturday that a link between the explosions in Amsterdam and Rotterdam could not be excluded, but did not confirm any claims made on social media by the group.
Concerns about possible attacks against Jewish communities around the world have risen following the US and Israeli attacks on Iran and the subsequent response from Tehran.
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Israel Says Lebanese Displaced Won’t Return Until Its Own Citizens Are Safe
Israeli soldiers walk next to military vehicles on the Israeli side of the Israel-Lebanon border, amid escalation between Hezbollah and Israel, and amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in northern Israel, March 16, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Avi Ohayon
Israel on Monday warned that displaced Lebanese driven from their homes by its military campaign against the terrorist group Hezbollah would not be able to return until the safety of Israelis living near the border was ensured, as Israeli troops pushed into new parts of southern Lebanon.
In a briefing, Israeli military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told reporters that soldiers were now conducting ground operations in “new locations,” describing the latest offensive as “limited and targeted.”
The extended operation began days after Defense Minister Israel Katz said the military had been ordered to expand its campaign. He later warned that the country could face territorial losses and damage to its infrastructure unless Hezbollah was disarmed.
Israel‘s military, which has occupied five positions in southern Lebanon since a November 2024 ceasefire with Hezbollah, sent additional forces into the country after Hezbollah fired a salvo of rockets on March 2, dragging Lebanon into an expanding regional war.
Hezbollah, a Shi’ite Muslim terrorist group backed by Iran, said its attack was in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader on Feb. 28, the first day of the US-Israeli war with Iran. Israel has responded with an intensive bombing campaign on Lebanon.
COMPARISON WITH GAZA
The military has framed the ground offensive, launched after March 2, as a defensive effort to protect northern Israel from Hezbollah attacks, which it says have averaged at least 100 rockets and drones a day and have reached as far as central Israel.
More than 880 people in Lebanon have been killed, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, and more than 800,000 have been driven from their homes, many from the south as well as from areas near the capital, Beirut.
On Monday, Katz linked the return of displaced Lebanese residents to the safety of Israelis living near the border.
“Hundreds of thousands of Shi’ite residents of southern Lebanon who have evacuated or are evacuating their homes in southern Lebanon and Beirut will not return to areas south of the Litani line until the safety of northern residents is ensured,” he said in a statement.
He said the military had been instructed to destroy “terrorist infrastructure” in villages in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel, drawing a comparison to operations in cities in the Gaza Strip that were largely destroyed by Israeli forces.
Katz also suggested that Hezbollah’s leader, Naim Qassem, could face a fate similar to that of his predecessor, and to Iran’s supreme leader, both of whom were killed in Israeli strikes. Qassem said last week threats against his life were “worthless.”
ISRAELI TROOPS ADVANCE WEST
Over the weekend, Israeli troops encircled the key southern Lebanese town of Khiyam and were advancing west toward the Litani River, a move that could leave large swathes of southern Lebanon under Israeli control, Lebanese security sources told Reuters.
Israeli troops battled Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon throughout the day on Monday, and advanced towards Bint Jbeil, a Lebanese village and Hezbollah stronghold located about 4 km from the border with Israel, the sources said.
Two Israeli officials said on Sunday that Israel and Lebanon were expected to hold talks in the coming days aimed at securing a durable ceasefire which would see Hezbollah disarmed.
A Lebanese source familiar with the matter said it didn’t seem talks with Israel would be taking place soon, though they would happen eventually.
Israel‘s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon told reporters that a “few players were trying to mediate and host talks,” adding: “I believe the next step will be talks but first we have to degrade the capability of Hezbollah.”
Under the November 2024 ceasefire, Hezbollah was to pull back from southern Lebanon as the Lebanese military took over.
Israel said Lebanon never upheld its part of the deal, continuing near-daily air strikes against what it said were Hezbollah positions and weapons.
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Still Too Early To Silence the Lions Roaring Above Iran
The sky is illuminated as an Iranian missile lands in Israel, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, as seen from Tel Aviv, Israel, March 12, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
The Iran war is full of surprises. The United Nations Security Council, often a hostile arena for Israel, condemned Tehran — not Washington and Jerusalem — on March 11 for Iran’s war conduct, particularly its strikes on Gulf Arab countries uninvolved in the conflict.
The Gulf strikes are part of the Islamic Republic’s strategy to increase international pressure to force the war’s premature end. This is intended to prevent the United States and Israel from achieving their ideal scenario — the fall of the ayatollahs’ regime — or an acceptable outcome — stopping Iran’s offensive military capabilities.
Terrible as war is, this one should continue until more of its initial goals are achieved.
That’s not to say there haven’t been successes. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander in chief, the minister of defense, the head of the military council, the deputy intelligence minister, the commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force, and other Iranian leaders met at Khamenei’s compound in Tehran on February 28. All of them died there.
In the devastating opening salvo, the Iranian leaders who had long called for Israel’s destruction and chanted “death to America” were instead killed by the countries they wished to harm.
Battle damage assessments can be difficult amid the fog of war, but some things are clear. The United States has struck approximately 6,000 targets, including more than 90 naval ships, and enjoys air superiority over large swaths of Iran. Iran’s drone and missile launches have declined by around 90 percent compared to the first day of the war. Israel assesses that 75 percent of Iran’s missile launchers have been destroyed, and the United States and its partners have intercepted thousands of Iranian drones.
US and Israeli forces are fighting wingtip-to-wingtip in the skies over Iran, and the Gulf Arab states’ fury at Iran for attacking them may portend favorable developments in the regional defense architecture envisioned in the Abraham Accords.
But there’s more work to be done. The Islamic Republic has struck at least 12 countries in an attempt to create economic pressure for the war to end.
A de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is reducing global shipping and driving up commodity prices, especially oil and gas. And though he hasn’t been seen since being injured early on in the conflict, Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has pledged to leverage the Strait’s closure to squeeze the global economy even further to try to get Gulf countries to pressure the United States to halt the operation.
With further damage to the world’s economy looming, the United States and its partners may eventually have to try reopening the Strait. But even without doing so, options exist to reduce the blockade’s impact. The International Energy Agency already released 400 million barrels of oil from reserves, and plans are reportedly being considered for US naval and other escorts through the narrow waterway.
There’s also the regime’s nuclear program to consider. While the damage done to nuclear facilities at Isfahan and Natanz remains largely unclear, satellite imagery indicates that they have been struck during the campaign. Israel did confirm on March 12 that it struck Taleghan 2, a site utilized by the Islamic Republic for explosives testing related to its nuclear program.
But with the regime’s highly enriched uranium supply reportedly buried deep under mountains in fortified Iranian facilities, air power can only do so much damage. It’s unclear if the US or Israel are considering special operations missions to try and make sure that uranium can’t be used in a future nuclear weapon.
Meanwhile, Israel has used its air power to weaken Iran’s tools of repression.
Since the beginning of the war, Iranians have reported that checkpoints run by the regime’s Basij forces have increased in cities around the country. The “religious” militia has also been running more patrols. The Basij seek to prevent a repeat of the massive anti-regime protests in January, in which more than 30,000 innocent Iranians were reportedly slaughtered.
Earlier this month, Iranian state media reported that at least 10 members of the Basij were killed in drone attacks at several checkpoints around the Iranian capital. Later, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed carrying out the precision strikes, pledging to “continue to strike at the mechanisms and operatives of the Iranian terror regime wherever they operate.”
The most optimistic forecast for this conflict is the eradication of the Islamic regime at the hands of historically oppressed Iranian civilians. For now, conditions on the streets are still far too volatile to resume protests.
Israeli eyes in the sky, combined with targeted strikes against Basij forces, can help tilt the odds in favor of the protesters seeking to take their country back from tyrants. A lesser success would be weakening the regime’s nuclear, ballistic, and drone capabilities to dramatically decrease the threat Iran poses to the United States and the world. The United States and Israel have already severely weakened the Islamic Republic, but the mission is far from over.
David May is the research manager and a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where Aaron Goren is a research analyst and editor. For more analysis from the authors and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow David and Aaron on X @DavidSamuelMay and @RealAaronGoren. Follow FDD on X @FDD. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.