Director's Talk - Conversation with Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove

James S. Snyder in Conversation with Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove

In the aftermath of October 7, 2023, and all that followed, the Jewish Museum introduced a new series of talks featuring James S. Snyder, Helen Goldsmith Menschel Director, in conversation with artists, authors, and other cultural leaders and thinkers exploring the role and relevance of art and culture during challenging times. Given the profoundly complex moment we are all experiencing today, these talks offer a forum for dialogue and discourse for public audiences of diverse backgrounds and perspectives, all of whom nonetheless embrace the Jewish Museum setting as a venue for education and engagement.

James S. Snyder and Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove of Park Avenue Synagogue, will talk together about the reality and the mythology of the Land of Israel's history, inspired by a special display at the Jewish Museum of the Tel Dan Stele, the oldest known archaeological evidence of the existence of the House of David, on loan from The Israel Museum in Jerusalem from December 5, 2024, through January 5, 2025.   They will also talk about Rabbi Cosgrove’s new book For Such a Time as This: On Being Jewish Today, a poignant exploration of the evolving meanings of being Jewish today.

About the Speakers:

James S. Snyder began his tenure as the Jewish Museum’s Helen Goldsmith Menschel Director in November 2023, after serving since 2019 as Executive Chair of The Jerusalem Foundation, Inc. He is also Director Emeritus of The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, where he served as the Anne and Jerome Fisher Director from 1997 through 2016 and then as International President through 2018.  He is also a Senior Fellow of the Middle East Initiative at Harvard’s Kennedy School. During his tenure as Director of the Israel Museum, Snyder led the Museum through the most dramatic period of growth since its founding and secured its stature as one of the world’s foremost museums. Prior to his appointment at the Israel Museum, Snyder held a number of positions at The Museum of Modern Art culminating as Deputy Director from 1986 to 1996.

Elliot J. Cosgrove, a leading voice of American Jewry, is Senior Rabbi of Park Avenue Synagogue in New York City. Ordained in 1999 at the Jewish Theological Seminary, he earned a doctorate at the University of Chicago Divinity School and is a Senior Hartman Rabbinic Fellow. Rabbi Cosgrove sits on the Chancellor’s Cabinet of the Jewish Theological Seminary and on the editorial board of Masorti: The New Journal of Conservative Judaism. An officer of the New York Board of Rabbis, he serves on the boards of UJA-Federation of New York, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, and Hillel at the University of Michigan. Rabbi Cosgrove represented New York’s Jewish community at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum during the visit of Pope Francis to New York in 2015. He is the host of Conversations with Cosgrove, a podcast featuring sermons, conversations, and selected programs.

Location: Scheuer Auditorium

Tickets: $18 General; $15 Students and Seniors; $12 Jewish Museum members

Doors open at 6 pm; Includes Museum Admission

The Morris W. Offit Lecture Series at the Jewish Museum is made possible in part by the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation.