Archives of the Mayor's Press Office

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: Wednesday, September 8, 1999

Release #349 -99

Contact: Sunny Mindel/Brenda Pérez (212) 788-2958


MAYOR GIULIANI DELIVERS REMARKS AT GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY FOR JEWISH CHILDREN'S MUSEUM

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani today delivered remarks at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Jewish Children's Museum, which will be named after Ari Halberstam, the teenager who was killed on the Brooklyn Bridge in 1994. Located in Crown Heights, Brooklyn and expected to be completed in approximately two years, the museum will attract an estimated 200,000 visitors a year. It will feature the latest in software and video technology to inform and educate children about the history and contributions of the Jewish people.

Also in attendance were: New York State Governor George E. Pataki; State Comptroller H. Carl McCall; Executive Director of the Jewish Children's Museum Rabbi Yerachmiel Benjaminson; City Council Speaker Peter F. Vallone; and Devorah Halberstam, mother of Ari Halberstam.

"The Jewish Children's Museum promises to be a great cultural contribution to New York City," the Mayor said. "New Yorkers and visitors from around the world -- especially children -- will have the opportunity to explore Jewish historic events, traditions and rituals, as Biblical characters and stories come alive through the latest in audio-visual technology.

"For the role that the Jewish Children's Museum will play in educating our youngsters about the past, present and future of the Jewish people, it is appropriate that it carries the name of Ari Halberstam. Ari died in the prime of his youth on the Brooklyn Bridge in 1994. This is the community where he lived and hoped for a bright future. The Jewish Children's Museum will be a fitting monument to his innocence, his dreams and the values he cherished," the Mayor concluded.

The firm Douglas/Gallagher, which has designed exhibits for the Museum of Jewish Heritage and the Smithsonian Institution, will create the exhibits for the Jewish Children's Museum. The building, on Eastern Parkway at Kingston Avenue, will be open to the public weekdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. After hours, its library, theater, arts and crafts room, and other activity areas will operate as a youth education center for the Crown Heights community.

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