Biden signs law that could lead to US Jewish history museum joining the Smithsonian

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden signed into law a bill that could bring the country’s premiere Jewish history museum under the Smithsonian umbrella,  a measure that may help ensure the survival of an institution that faced bankruptcy just a few years ago.

Biden on Wednesday announced the enactment of the “Commission to Study the Potential Transfer of the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History to the Smithsonian Institution Act,” the act establishes a body that will examine whether the Philadelphia museum, known as the Weitzman, can join the Smithsonian Institution.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved the bill, authored by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Jewish Democrat, in September and the Senate followed suit on Dec. 4. Both votes were unanimous. The bill had the support of 36 Jewish groups.

If the commission created by the bill transfers the museum to the control of the Smithsonian trust, it would join a collection of Smithsonian museums dedicated to other minority groups including African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans and Latinos.

In floor speeches lawmakers cited the spike in antisemitism since Hamas launched its war against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, as a spur. But the effort to bring the museum under the umbrella of a system that includes federal government support predated the attacks, and stemmed from the Weitzman’s financial woes.

The museum was on the cusp of closure four years ago. In early March 2020, right as COVID-19 hit, the museum filed for bankruptcy protection in the face of a $30 million construction debt. It was rescued the following year by a donation from footwear entrepreneur Stuart Weitzman, giving the museum its current name, and was in good financial health when the bill was first proposed earlier this year.

The museum last month named as its new CEO Dan Tadmor, an Israeli who oversaw the $100 million transformation of a Tel Aviv museum called Beit Hatfutsot, which reopened in 2021 as ANU-Museum of the Jewish People. The Weitzman regained its financial footing under Tadmor’s predecessor, Misha Galperin.

The Smithsonian, a trust, runs its museums with a combination of fundraising and federal appropriations, with percentages varying among its many institutions. Most Smithsonian museums are in Washington D.C. and have free admission, although several are further afield, including the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in Manhattan. The Weitzman already offers free admission through philanthropic support.

The commission of nine people studying the feasibility of the move will include eight voting members appointed by leaders of both chambers of Congress and a non-voting member appointed by the museum board. Their report to Congress on the feasibility of the museum joining the Smithsonian would come within two years of the commission’s launch.