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  • Programs
    • Upcoming Programs
    • Educational Resources
    • Virtual City Tour
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    • Down Home Documentary Film
    • Down Home Museum Exhibit
    • Down Home Project Book and DVD
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Blog and News

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Passover 2023

Blog, HolidaysMarch 28, 2023

Passover has been celebrated in North Carolina for more than 200 years, at least. Across…

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Photo credit: Fabianne Wolff Gershon NYC

Have a Spiel on Purim!

Blog, HolidaysMarch 6, 2023

Perhaps no holiday is enjoyed as much as Purim with its revelries and irreverent humor.…

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An Accidental Archaeologist: Eric Meyers Celebrates Fifty Years of Jewish Studies at Duke University

Blog, NewsFebruary 14, 2023

Eric Meyers, founding director of Duke University’s Jewish Studies and past president of Jewish Heritage…

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Marking History: Jewish North Carolina’s Hit and Miss

Blog, NewsJanuary 24, 2023

The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources’ Highway Historical Marker Program has authorized…

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Happy Hanukkah! Governor Roy Cooper Presides on 12/14/22

NewsDecember 22, 2022

Photo Credit: Office of the Governor Governor Roy Cooper presides at the lighting of a…

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Jewish Renewal in Jacksonville

Blog, Jewish CultureDecember 1, 2022

Once a small-town Jewish community dies, can it come back to life? The story of…

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Hendersonville’s Agudas Israel Congregation Celebrates 100 Years

Blog, NewsNovember 10, 2022

Agudas Israel Congregation of Hendersonville observed its centennial with a series of celebratory events.  …

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A Homecoming in Weldon

BlogOctober 30, 2022

Across North Carolina in old mill and market towns stand abandoned synagogues—now churches or residences—which…

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High Holiday Atonement, 1941

Blog, HolidaysSeptember 20, 2022

One mitzvah inspires another is a Jewish teaching. That lesson came home on the High…

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On the Menu: Jewish Soul Food in North Carolina

Blog, Jewish CultureAugust 30, 2022

In Edible North Carolina: A Journey across a State of Flavor Southern food guru Marcie…

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Eli Evans

Eli Evans, Poet Laureate of Southern Jews, Passes Away

Blog, NewsJuly 26, 2022

Eli Evans, author of the pathbreaking book The Provincials: A Personal History of the Jews…

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Kittner shoe store

Southern Jewish Folklore: How’d Your Family Wind up Here?

Blog, Jewish CultureJune 27, 2022

“How’d your family wind up here in small-town North Carolina?” I’d ask an old timer.…

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Bruchim Habaim photo

B’rukhim Haba’im: Stories of Welcome

Blog, NewsJune 27, 2022

Burning Coal Theatre will present B’rukhim Haba’im: Stories of Welcome, an exhibit of filmed autobiographical…

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Rabbi Steve Sager

A Rabbi Who Touched Hearts

Blog, NewsMay 31, 2022

Rabbi Steven G. Sager, Rabbi Emeritus of Beth El Synagogue in Durham and founding director…

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Outer Banks NC

Heading to the Beach or Mountains? Vacationing with Judaism

BlogMay 27, 2022

“From Manteo to Murphy” is a phrase that North Carolinians employ when they speak of…

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Gizella Abramson

Holocaust Education will never be the same in North Carolina

Blog, NewsApril 25, 2022

For a state that historically has had a small Jewish community, at least as a…

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Haggadah China

Passover Haggadot at Duke University Libraries

Blog, HolidaysApril 11, 2022

By Rachel Ariel, Guest Contributor and Librarian for Jewish Studies, Duke University Duke University Libraries…

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Weldon Temple Emanuel-El

A Jewish Photographer’s Journey – Repurposed

BlogApril 8, 2022

By Larry Pearlman, Guest Contributor In my first blog, I described how synagogues in small…

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JHNC Executive Board

How Jewish Heritage North Carolina Changed Through the Years

Blog, NewsApril 6, 2022

Remarks delivered at the Down Home Banner Exhibition North Carolina State Capitol in Raleigh, April…

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Rocky Mount synagogue

A Photographic Journey Through Small-Town North Carolina

BlogMarch 27, 2022

By Larry Pearlman, Guest Contributor In many small-towns, synagogues are disappearing.  Their communities are shrinking…

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Purim party

Having a Ball at Purim

Blog, HolidaysMarch 14, 2022

Purim has become a family celebration, often a children’s party, a fun time at temple…

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Torah cover maroon

Unscrolling the Past: A History in Velvet and Satin

Blog, Jewish CultureFebruary 21, 2022

When Jewish Heritage North Carolina (JHNC) created our multimedia project Down Home: Jewish Life in…

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Eliza Mordecai and Leanna

Did North Carolina Jews Own Slaves?

BlogFebruary 14, 2022

After the 1619 Project and Black Lives Matter, this year’s Black History Month is especially…

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Gans Roanoke Island

The Lost Jewish Colonist

BlogFebruary 7, 2022

The 115 English settlers who disappeared from Roanoke Island circa 1587 gave rise to the…

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American Jewish Times cover

The Times They Are A Changin’

BlogJanuary 31, 2022

Today print journalism is an endangered species, at best a dated indulgence.  Perhaps you’ve perused…

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Torah dedication

From Goodman to Weinstein: The Story of Beth El’s Historic Renovation

Blog, NewsJanuary 10, 2022

By Guest Contributor, Prof. Eric M. Meyers When the prominent architect Percival Goodman signed on…

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Anti-Semitic Flyer

Anti-Semitic Flyers Strike Greensboro

Blog, NewsJanuary 3, 2022

News that anti-Semitic flyers were distributed in Greensboro neighborhoods on Sunday, December 19 has riled…

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Sol Bear & Co Distillery

Cheers to You: NC Jewish Makers & Distributors of Fine Wines and Liquors

Blog, HolidaysDecember 27, 2021

This New Year’s Eve Jews, like other North Carolinians, may perhaps avail themselves of a…

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NC Association of Jewish Women

Jewish Women Organize!

Blog, NewsDecember 13, 2021

This year marks the centennial since the founding of the North Carolina Association of Jewish…

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Wallace Brothers Herbarium

Jewish Brothers Spur NC Economy, Garner International Attention

Blog, NewsDecember 6, 2021

The Wallace Brothers Herbarium, a fascinating and important Jewish enterprise in North Carolina’s economic history,…

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Giving Tuesday logo

Happy Hanukkah from JHNC

Blog, Holidays, NewsNovember 30, 2021

Hanukkah sameach! Happy Hanukkah! During this season as we rededicate ourselves to our Jewish community…

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American Jewish Times cover

The Renewed Meaning of Chanukah

Blog, HolidaysNovember 29, 2021

In December, 1944, in the midst of World War II, The American Jewish Times, a…

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Temple of Israel design

NC’s oldest synagogue needs our help

NewsNovember 8, 2021

The beautiful Temple of Israel has been a landmark in Wilmington for almost 146 years. Built…

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Basketball brawl

Jews Are One People, Except When Playing Basketball

BlogNovember 2, 2021

If North Carolinians share a religion, it’s college basketball. Jews have been part of the…

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Gertrude Weil marker

Jews leave their mark(ers) on North Carolina

BlogOctober 25, 2021

Driving North Carolina highways and byways, you have likely noticed silver and black metal signposts…

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Goldsboro historic

Down Home in Goldsboro: Jewish Life Across the Centuries

NewsOctober 11, 2021

Did you know that Goldsboro’s Temple Oheb Shalom is the second oldest synagogue building in…

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Football

Heroics on the sports field… Bravery on the battlefield

BlogOctober 4, 2021

A North Carolina Hero The advent of football season and the approach of Armistice Day…

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NC Map

How Many Jews Live in North Carolina (Revisited)?

BlogSeptember 27, 2021

This past fall, the Berman Jewish DataBank, sponsored by The Jewish Federations of North America,…

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SJHS logo

Upcoming Southern Jewish Historical Society Conference

Blog, NewsSeptember 20, 2021

  The Southern Jewish Historical Society will hold its 45th annual conference virtually on October…

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Statesville Temple Emanuel

138-year-old Congregation Emanuel Restored to Original Beauty

Blog, NewsSeptember 13, 2021

By Guest Contributor, Wendy Gordon Pake On Monday, September 6, North Carolina’s second oldest synagogue,1…

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Shofar blowing

A History of High Holidays in North Carolina

Blog, Holidays, Jewish CultureAugust 31, 2021

How could Jews in North Carolina observe the High Holidays before there were congregations here?…

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Paris Olympics

Jewish Olympians From North Carolina

Blog, NewsAugust 24, 2021

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics has come to a close, but for Jewish North Carolinians this…

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School Days

School Days: A New Normal (Then & Now)

BlogAugust 22, 2021

The opening of school, after a year of lockdown and virtual classes, might seem like…

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Boone, NC Loses a Great Academic Scholar and Jewish Community Leader

BlogAugust 10, 2021

Professor Rosemary Horowitz, co-director of Appalachian State University’s Center for Judaic, Holocaust, and Peace Studies,…

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Alon Tal: North Carolina Comes to the Knesset

BlogJune 25, 2021

In the 2020 election North Carolina Jews took pride in noting that for the first…

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North Carolina and the Man Who Coined the Word Genocide

BlogMay 10, 2021

As we observe Yom HaShoah, we may not be aware that North Carolina was a…

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Jewish Summer Camping in North Carolina

BlogApril 27, 2021

‘Tis the season when our thoughts turn to summer with the added promise of a…

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North Carolina’s Century of Zionist Activism

BlogApril 15, 2021

As Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day) arrives on April 15, North Carolinians can celebrate its…

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Passover in North Carolina

BlogMarch 29, 2021

Observing Passover in North Carolina has not always been as convenient as today’s easy trip…

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Jewish Firsts in North Carolina Politics

NewsNovember 25, 2020

By JHNC Historian Leonard Rogoff On election day Nov. 3, Jewish candidates won two of…

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North Carolina’s Jewish Population is Booming!

NewsOctober 19, 2020

The Berman Jewish Data Bank recently released their 2019 US Jewish population report that confirms…

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Confederate memorials, not a Jewish problem?

Blog, NewsJuly 17, 2020

As Confederate statues fall in battle, North Carolina Jews may feel that we are watching…

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NC Holocaust Education

NewsMarch 1, 2019

JHNC has contracted with the NC Council on the Holocaust to add a component to…

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Jewish Congregational Histories Online!

Blog, NewsFebruary 27, 2019

The JHFNC is contributing its resources to an on-line Religion in North Carolina Digital Collection.…

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Down Home: Digital Exhibit

Blog, NewsFebruary 26, 2019

JHFNC is happy to announce the birth of Down Home: A Virtual Museum on its…

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A Slave Poet, a Jewish Professor at UNC-CH

NewsFebruary 22, 2019

And now, from the archives, comes a previously unknown essay by Horton, which sheds oblique…

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Harry Golden Takes On The Seersuckered South

Blog, NewsMay 22, 2014

In this article from Charlotte NPR by Tom Bullock, the digital “Down Home” exhibit is…

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Down Home: Cantata: Listen LIVE on The State of Things

Blog, NewsMay 16, 2013

Professor Eric Meyers, Composer Alejandro Rutty, and Conductress Lorena Guillen will be on The State…

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Down Home: The Cantata is “Memorable, they say”

Blog, Jewish Culture, NewsMay 1, 2013

Triangle Jewish Chorale Presents a Memorable Panorama of Jewish Life in North Carolina By Ken…

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Summering in the North Carolina Mountains of Yesteryear

Blog, NewsJuly 9, 2012

For those of us with memories of heading to upstate New York for summer camps…

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May is Jewish American Heritage Month

Blog, NewsMay 1, 2012

Not widely known perhaps, but May is a time to celebrate our Jewish heritage in…

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A NC Holocaust Victim

Blog, NewsApril 17, 2012

In remembering the Holocaust, North Carolinians may feel a special poignancy in knowing that one…

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NPR Interview on Jewish texts

BlogMarch 9, 2012

NPR, ‘A State of Things’ recently interviewed Rabbi Steve Sager of Sicha. Click here for…

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Read Charlotte Observer Article on Down Home

BlogFebruary 25, 2012

Click here to read the review of Down Home at the Levine Museum of the…

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Sources for local challah

BlogJanuary 6, 2012

Smelling the fresh challah at the JCC in Durham got me thinking today. Where else…

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Looking for a long weekend trip destination?

Blog, Jewish CultureDecember 15, 2011

Check out the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia-over 25,000 sq. ft. of…

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Food memories from our museum exhibit recipe cards

Blog, RecipesDecember 1, 2011

My father would make gefilte fish with his brothers. They also made kosher pickles in…

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The Piyyut (Poem) Akdamut Milin: The Enigma and Perseverance of Tradition

Blog, Holidays, Jewish Culture, NewsJune 3, 2011

In this article, that originally appeared at http://thetorah.com/akdamut-milin/, Duke Professor Laura Lieber gives a fascinating…

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