Immigration is a leap into the unknown. To take leave of old ties and familiar sights, to cross an ocean to a strange land, is an enormous challenge.

For the Jewish people, immigration was an old story. But the promise of the American republic was new: freedom, equality, and opportunity. As life in Europe became harder and more dangerous for many Jews, they looked across the ocean toward a land where they could have the same chance as everyone else.

Once an outpost at the edge of Jewish life, the United States became the largest center of Jewish population in the world. Millions of Jews found in America a goldene medineh–a golden land.

The Declaration of Independence in 1776 promised every person a right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Soon after, New York adopted a constitution granting Jews political equality. But a hundred years would pass before these rights were granted to Jews in every one of the original thirteen states.

Other minorities have also struggled for their rights in America. For example, Catholic immigrants were denied equality in New York until the early 1800's. African Americans waged a century–long struggle for civil equality. Japanese Americans interned during World War II waited forty years for the government to apologize.

Jews too have learned that, even in America, liberty and equality can never be taken for granted.

Statue of Liberty Hanukkah Lamp
Manfred Anson (b. 1922)
New Jersey, USA, 1986
Brass, cast
Museum Purchase with Project Americana funds provided by Peachy and Mark Levy
Photograph: John Reed Forsman

Crafted in honor of the centennial of the Statue of Liberty, this lamp's figures were cast from the original nineteenth–century souvenir used to raise funds for the Statue pedestal.
Click here for detail of the Statue of Liberty Hanukkah Lamp

What American values are represented by the Statue of Liberty Hanukkah Lamp?

Life Mask of Lincoln
Leonard W. Volk
Springfield, Illinois, 1860
Plaster
Anonymous Loan
Photograph: David Greenfield

This mask was made only a short time before Lincoln's nomination to the Presidency, and is considered the most characteristic portrait of Lincoln when first elected President.

Leonard W. Volk, the Chicago-based sculptor, was the first artist whom Lincoln sat for a portrait.

How did Abraham Lincoln protect the Jews?

Statue of Liberty Torch Skirball Cultural Center, USA, 1996 Photograph: Grant Mudford

For millions of immigrants at the turn of the century, their first and most vivid memory of America was the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor. The immigration center at Ellis Island was virtually in the Statue's shadow. Today it is a museum visited by millions.

The creation of French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi (1834-1904), the Statue of Liberty was a gift to the United States from the people of France.

The right hand holding the torch was first displayed in Philadelphia in 1876, ten years before the finished Statue was unveiled in New York harbor.

Who was Emma Lazarus and how does she relate to the Statue of Liberty?