Jewish Museum: Storied Sassoon Clan Stars

One of New York’s most erudite and sumptuous museums is the Jewish Museum, located in the old Warburg mansion on Fifth Avenue and 92nd Street. It’s at the northern end of Manhattan’s Museum Mile, which is probably the most impressive concentration of art in the world. It’s also one of my favorite museums. I’m a philosemite, so I tend to be drawn to a place that foregrounds Jewish identity and history and art by Jews or about Jews.

And all the museum’s exhibitions are first-rate, as is its scholarship. Its vibrancy is even more heartening given the rise of antisemitism among left-wingers in America. Antisemitism is part and parcel of the toxic — and fashionable — milieu that divides people into oppressors and victims. It’s the oldest, most insidious kind of hate. Affirmative action’s casualties are Asian Americans and white working-class men, to be sure, but also Jews. If our schools become secular madrasas, teaching children hate, fear, and resentment, we’ll see more antisemitism. It’s inevitable.

About the Author

Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

One of New York’s most erudite and sumptuous museums is the Jewish Museum, located in the old Warburg mansion on Fifth Avenue and 92nd Street. It’s at the northern end of Manhattan’s Museum Mile, which is probably the most impressive concentration of art in the world. It’s also one of my favorite museums. I’m a philosemite, so I tend to be drawn to a place that foregrounds Jewish identity and history and art by Jews or about Jews.

And all the museum’s exhibitions are first-rate, as is its scholarship. Its vibrancy is even more heartening given the rise of antisemitism among left-wingers in America. Antisemitism is part and parcel of the toxic — and fashionable — milieu that divides people into oppressors and victims. It’s the oldest, most insidious kind of hate. Affirmative action’s casualties are Asian Americans and white working-class men, to be sure, but also Jews. If our schools become secular madrasas, teaching children hate, fear, and resentment, we’ll see more antisemitism. It’s inevitable.