Jewish Museum of Florida

Decades ago, Miami Beach [1] was nicknamed “Little Jerusalem” as a way of acknowledging the enormous population of Jewish retirees who had come to the area in the 1960s and 1970s. Although that population has gotten noticeably smaller since Miami Beach’s star-powered revival in the 1980s and 1990s, the influence of the Jewish community on the greater Miami [2] area is still quite strong.

The Jewish Museum of Florida (301 Washington Ave., 305/672-5044, http://jewishmuseum.com [3], 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Tues.–Sun., $6 adults, $5 seniors and students, children 5 and under free) documents not only the history of Jews in Miami but also throughout the state, from early settlements in the Panhandle and Key West [4] up to today, when the Miami metro area represents the single largest per-capita concentration of Jews outside of Israel.

The Jewish Museum of Florida’s main exhibit is “Mosaic: Jewish Life in Florida,” a well-organized and informative collection of more than 500 artifacts, photos, articles of clothing, and religious implements, and there are also occasional traveling exhibits on display.