About The Institute

In 1986, the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience was formed as a response to an outcry from small-town southern Jews in need of a repository for artifacts, sacred objects, historical documents, photographs, and stories.  The museum provided a place to help small, rural areas make the transition from active to inactive status and to ensure that the stories and impact of the southern Jewish community would not be forgotten.   The MSJE Utica, Mississippi site was completed in 1989 on the grounds of the Henry S. Jacobs Camp.  In 1991, the museum acquired Temple B’nai Israel in Natchez, Mississippi as its second museum site.  In 1997, the MSJE mounted its award-winning exhibit “From Alsace to America,” which looked at the immigration of Alsatian Jews to cities and small towns of the South.  A portion of this celebrated exhibit remains in the Utica museum.

In 2000, the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience expanded its mission and changed its name to the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life.  In addition to maintaining the museum and preserving historical documents and artifacts, the ISJL works to provide cultural programs and Judaic services to small and medium-sized communities in the South.The Institute covers thirteen southern states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.

Today, the Institute provides rabbinic services to small congregations across the region.  It has developed a comprehensive religious school curriculum and support program that is being used by 49 congregations in nine states.  The ISJL History Department works to preserve and interpret the rich legacy of the Southern Jewish Experience.  The ISJL also sponsors such cultural programs as Jewish Cinema South and the Southern States Jewish Literary Series.