Work Experience at the Jewish Museum

by Hannah Milofsky, Work Experience Student

Hannah Milofsky (year 10 Hasmonean School for Girls) completed a week’s work experience at the Jewish Museum. She was most surprised by the number of non Jewish visitors to the Museum and their genuine interest in Jewish religion, culture and history. As an avid reader, she was delighted to be involved in the Pop Up Festival event with author Miriam Halahamy and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School.

Assisting in various workshops, it was interesting to see how many schools of different religions and cultures were interested in Judaism and Jewish history. They were all respectful towards the speakers who spoke of their personal experiences and were very curious about aspects covering every perspective spoken of. On Tuesday, author Miriam Halahmy was invited to speak of her books and I was privileged to assist that workshop.

Author Miraim Halahamy with students from EGA

I found it extremely clever how the author and the museum merged pieces of the book with an exhibition. Once again, the children were brilliantly well behaved and even stood up to act scenes from the book in front of their classmates.

On Wednesday, a member of staff sat us down and asked us to provide her with ideas for a project they were hoping to release as an exhibition in the near future, in the museum. We were very enthusiastic to participate in such an important project and were given the opportunity to relay some of our own ideas

Students from EGA handling Jewish Museum artefacts

The highlight of the week was definitely Thursday when I was fortunate enough to visit a part of the museum which was closed to the public. The work experience team were given a special tour around the archives where a huge amount of priceless artefacts were being stored. One of the girls even recognised files and old books that had been donated by her school to the museum. It was a truly inspiring experience to learn some stories behind several of the objects.

My final day was on the Friday and I was surprised at how fast the day went by. I had two workshops to set up and assist. A holocaust speaker came in the early afternoon and I was asked to greet her. I spoke with her about some of her experiences and found her fascinating; she had had so much horrifying experiences as a child, yet she was strong enough to speak about it, which I found incredible and brave. I was very interested in working in a museum for my work experience to see how it works behind the scenes as well as to get a feel of a real working day. The Jewish Museum ticked all of these boxes and went beyond that by making me feel comfortable in a friendly environment. I could not have wished for a better first work experience. 

Assisting in various workshops, it was interesting to see how many schools of different religions and cultures were interested in Judaism and Jewish history. They were all respectful towards the speakers who spoke of their personal experiences and were very curious about aspects covering every perspective spoken of. On Tuesday, author Miriam Halahmy was invited to speak of her books and I was privileged to assist that workshop