The American Jewish museum gives insights into what it would have been like as a Jewish immigrant from Eastern Europe. You can see the cultural disparities and how it might have been difficult to adapt to American culture but you can also see that transition as well. I think the curators wanted to capture that feeling in order to give the visitor a deeper understanding of what a Jewish American experiences. As they were forced to leave Europe and adapt to a set of laws that allowed more freedom than they have ever experienced before. The museum captures the internal struggle as they faced immigration inspectors who could dictate their futures but also the happiness they must have felt as they were in a situation that could lead to a plethora of opportunities for a better life. The American Jewish museum had texts that were written by immigrants and which are first-person experiences. The exhibit also showcased Abraham Lincoln and I deeply wondered what the purpose was. But if I look from the lens of understanding the experiences of people who migrated to America, it must have been a way of letting us know as visitors, that they had to study American history in order to feel like or actually be a citizen. Understanding American history allows you to understand American values and if you’re pledging to be a law-abiding citizen it is truly important to know. That’s when the exhibits transition to the clothing that they wore, which evokes this idea of a transition period to American culture. Then there’s a piano that showcases a song by a man named Irving Berlin who wrote: “God bless America”. That statement within itself characterizes the happiness American Jews felt as they freed themselves from European countries in which they did not share the same ideals.