(The Philadelphia Inquirer) The National Museum of American Jewish History filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday, seeking relief from what museum officials characterize as a crushing debt burden incurred by construction of its home on Independence Mall a decade ago:
In papers filed with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Philadelphia, the museum said that it owed a little more than $30 million to bondholders and about $500,000 to unsecured creditors.
The Bridgehampton National Bank on Long Island holds about $16.4 million of the museum’s debt; a group of donors and lenders, many of whom backed the museum’s mall construction, holds about $14 million.
“Our museum, since it’s open, has been lugging around over $30 million of debt, and it is a weight on our shoulders that we have to get rid of,” Phil Darivoff, chair of the museum’s board of trustees, said. “It affects the way donors look at us. It affects our confidence in our future. And frankly, the debt service is too big a burden for us.”
Officials said that the bankruptcy proceedings would not affect museum operations or staffing.
“The museum has more debt than it can sustain,” Lawrence McMichael said. “And that has a lot of negative implications for a nonprofit. It’s really no different than other nonprofits I’ve taken through Chapter 11 in Philadelphia, in the sense that what happens when a nonprofit has more debt than they can reasonably ever repay, donors start to get cold feet and they back off of it.”
That, he said, fuels “a proverbially vicious cycle, and the only way to deal with it, ultimately, is to resolve things through a Chapter 11. That’s what Chapter 11 is there to do.”
The museum is known for its unusual, sometimes quirky, exhibitions, everything from a big overview of Leonard Bernstein in 2018 to Ruth Bader Ginsburg and “Sara Berman’s Closet” in 2019….
Darivoff said that the museum has been paying about 20% of its budget in interest payments every year. The decision to file for bankruptcy was prompted by the expectation that it would lead to “a reduction in debt that will create a new level of sustainability.”
…In August of last year, the museum did not pay the interest obligation on the bonds, according to court records. The bank countered with a demand for immediate repayment of the full amount.
…Court records describe the situation dryly: “Since opening in 2010, the museum’s revenues from gate receipts and events have not reached the levels expected.
Given such problems, Darivoff was asked if the institution regretted the move out of its manageable quarters behind Mikveh Israel into the big six-story show on Independence Mall.
“I don’t regret it; I applaud it,” he said.
“The group of people in Philadelphia who recognized the need in the American Jewish community to tell the story of Jews in America in a way that couldn’t be done in a one-room museum, I think was an act of great leadership,” Darivoff continued. “Telling history is central to the Jewish people. It’s central to who we are. We are a people in part because of the way we retell our history. Our Bible is, in fact, a recitation of the history of the Jewish people. And we stay together as a community by retelling that history.”
Except that nobody else is interested in jewish history, especially in a massively Black city like Philadelphia. It’s doubtful even that most Jews in Philadelphia have any interest in seeing an exhibit on Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
In fact, over 75% of the museum’s visitors are jewish, and most of those are elderly Jews. No wonder it’s going broke.
America succeeded not because of its Jews but despite its Jews, and that’s a bitter pill that very few Jews are willing to swallow.
If Jews had the power they have today back when the Constitution was being written, the country would have self-destructed from internal conflict before it ever got off the ground. By their own admission, they are destroyers, not builders.
“We Jews, we are the destroyers and will remain the destroyers. Nothing you can do will meet our demands and needs. We will forever destroy because we want a world of our own.”
— Maurice Samuel, “You Gentiles” (1924)
And once this folly of a museum get this foolishly conceived debt thrown out by the court, they can turn around and hit up more old Jews to keep this doomed leviathan going, or that’s the plan.
After all, where America be without Jews having a place to ‘tell their stories’ — their tall tales of alienation, persecution and ‘triumph’?
Charles Martel
Looks like among other Jews the wealthy Jews of Philadelphia have a reputation for being cheap, which has caused serious financial problems for the museum. The Jews also wanted the museum literally tower over the Liberty Bell location to show the world how successful Jews had become in America. Their arrogance and chutzpah got rewarded with bankruptcy and a museum that no one is interested in visiting or supporting, a metaphor for the future of Jews in America.
https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/146562/an-object-lesson-in-misplaced-american-jewish-priorities-opinion/
russ
Did they not do a business proposal? A pound of flesh for the merchant of Venice. Poor babies.
Jake
“Our Bible is, in fact, a recitation of the history of the Jewish people. And we stay together as a community by retelling that history.”
What? The Talmud? That Bible?
Chesterton
“Retelling = making up
Bill Wesley
“We are a people in part because of the way we retell our history. Our Bible is, in fact, a recitation of the history of the Jewish people. And we stay together as a community by retelling that history.”
Digest that tripe for a moment. Keyword: retell(ing). Doing what jews do best.
And make no mistake, the only way the second sentence holds an iota of truth is if it is read in truth – “Our Bible is, in fact, the Talmud, which is the history of Edomite jews.”
russ
Then why does the Bible hate the tradition of the elders (Talmud). It is not the Talmud is was founded upon the inspired prophets. If you want to know how God would run a country just follow Torah. Its the greatest protection against banksters.
See no American is allowed to lend money at intrest to a fellow American. However to a dual national and foreigner you may. That one verse in Deuteronomy would solve all your problems.
Yet you say it is the Talmud.
The right to bare arms is in the Torah.
No Homosexuality.
Death Penalty.
Talmud is a get out of Torah and weaken the nations. Torah is our guide to surviving the most evil people on earth. They shall not enter you assemblies. Ie not into your Congress or Senate or even influence those assemblies. Ie Aipac and othe such J intrest groups.I think you are way wrong in your insisting the Torah is the Talmud. All nations will be blessed if their religion is Christian and their secular Law is Torah. Just imagine no inheritance tax and limited government. A monetary system based on weights and measures.
Gods Laws never change but Talmud is an abrogation and nullification of Gods law so these urchins can become gods knowing GOOD and EVIL. Make sure you are under devine protection as it was the good Jews who rejected the Rabbis and founded the Christian Church. This war is by no means over it has rather just begun.
White Lion Bear
Why would a museum need a mall? It’s one thing to have a gift store but this just shows the greed of the pomegranates behind this place blatantly
guest
By “mall”, they are not referring to a shopping mall but an open area between two roadways like the mall in Washington DC.
luke2236
Justice…
Except, as noted, it will be shifted onto the public dole somehow and will continue on as a centre for propaganda and money laundering. Bank on it.