Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience

Thirteen states, 300 years, and countless fried matzoh balls!

The Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience (MSJE) is the only museum in the country that focuses specifically on the distinct history and culture of Jews in the South. Since opening in 2021, we’ve shared our Southern Jewish stories with more than 50,000 visitors – from across the country and around the world. That’s 50,000 people who can no longer say, “I didn’t know there were Jews in South.” 50,000 people who gained new understandings and appreciation for identity, diversity, and acceptance. 

MSJE is more than just a museum. It is a place for researching one’s Southern Jewish roots, for sharing our common and our unique stories, for celebrating our contributions and confronting all aspects of our Southern past, and, ultimately, for encouraging thoughtful conversations about who we all are as Americans. 

Shalom. Make yourself at home!

Give the Gift of Technology!

2026 marks our fifth birthday. In just that short amount of time, tens of thousands of visitors have literally pushed our buttons, swiped our screens, and spun our wheels. For this year’s GiveNOLA Day campaign, MSJE aims to raise $50,000 to update our museum’s technology.

Things. Need. Replacing.

When visitors come to MSJE, they experience our stories through world-class and award-winning exhibits. Besides unique artifacts from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, these exhibits include compelling interactive, audio-visual elements that engage, educate, and entertain, including:

• Our Mintz Family Theater, where we host public movie screenings and welcome museum visitors with our award-winning orientation film, The Southern Jewish Experience.

• An 1860s “magic lantern” that projects a compelling slide show of Southern Jews during the Civil War.

• The Foundations of Judaism interactive kiosk, loaded with Jewish holiday information and engaging quizzes about Jewish foods, traditions, and Yiddish terms.

• An oral history station featuring the voices of Holocaust survivors sharing their experiences making new homes for their families in the South

• Another oral history station featuring revealing interviews with Southern rabbis during the Civil Rights era.

• Two touch-screen monitors featuring the Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities, where visitors can do a deeper dive into the history of their states and towns, and three monitors where they can explore objects from our collection not on physical display.

• Our award-winning Community Quilt Table, where visitors “sew” personalized quilt squares, just as the Jewish Ladies Sewing Circle of Canton, MS, did in 1885.

If you’ve visited MSJE before, you know how important and meaningful these components are to the overall museum experience. Please help us upgrade them with new technology so that we can continue to bring the Southern Jewish experience to life for everyone.

Testimonials

"The Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience is the finest reply to the oft-heard comment, ‘I didn't know there were Jews in the South!’" – Deborah Lamensdorf Jacobs

"I just found out I'm 10% Jewish. I loved learning about my newly discovered Jewish heritage." – Myra Morgan

"This museum has answered so many questions we've had about Judaism. Thank you from the Southern Mississippi History Club!"

"I learned more about the South (and America) in your museum than any museum I've been to." - S. O'Connell