Mordechai Noah, Author, Diplomat, Orphaned young, Noah had a very interesting career.  At the age of 26 he managed to secure an appointment as the American Consul in Riga by presenting himself as someone who would show that there is no religious prejudice against Jews. followed by one in Tunis.  He tried to ransome several Americans who were enslaved by the Barbary Pirates which got him fired.  He did claim when he returned that it was because he was Jewish.  He edited The National Advocate, wrote many articles and plays and founded his own paper Noah's Weekly Messenger.  He was considered the first important Jewish writer in America.  He championed a Jewish colony of refuge near Buffalo which attracted no settlers after a spectacular opening ceremony including members of the Seneca Tribe as he considered Indians to be the lost ten tribes.  He was also a very early Zionist proposign a Jewish refuge in Palestine. 

Touro Synagogue - Touro Synagogue, by architect Peter Harrison, stands as an example of the refined aesthetics of the mid-18th century. Despite its austere exterior, the interior is a rich tapestry of carved wooden furnishings and galleries, reflecting the sophisticated design principles prevalent in English and Continental architecture of the era. Touro Synagogue was among the few public edifices in Newport to remain unscathed during the Revolution. From 1781 to 1784, it functioned as the venue for the Rhode Island General Assembly and the Supreme Court of Rhode Island sessions. Notably, George Washington attended a town meeting held within its walls on March 13, 1781.

Bialystoker Synagogue - 1826 - Formerly the Willett Street Methodist Episcopal Church

Beth Sholom Synagogue - 1953 - It didn’t take very long for Jews to be upwardly mobile enough to move from the crowded tenements to better housing and by the end of World War II decamp for the suburbs. The second generation of American Jews really wanted to be American and embrace their new country. In Philadelphia Rabbi Mortimer Cohen of Congregation Beth Sholem wrote a letter to Frank Lloyd Wright on November 16, 1953 inviting him to design a synagogue.  A few weeks later he accepted the commission and constructed what he termed “a modern version of Mount Sinai” that would express a new American Architecture.   It was his last building opening 5 months after he died.  The column free synagogue seats 1030 people; the roof hangs from a 170-ton steel tripod frame. It was made of sanded translucent white glass and corrugated wire glass which a little ahead of its time so that “Since this is to be God’s Temple, I prefer to have him color the glass.” Sadly it still leaks.   

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - 1993 - The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust history. It is dedicated to helping leaders and citizens of the world confront hatred, prevent genocide, promote human dignity, and strengthen democracy.

New England Holocaust Memorial - 1995 - The effort to build The New England Holocaust Memorial was led by a group of Nazi concentration camp survivors living in the Boston area. Completed in 1995, the Memorial features six 54-foot-tall glass towers, each built over a dark chamber named for one of the principal Nazi death camps. Steam rises from these chambers and six million numbers are etched in the glass, suggesting the numbers tattooed on concentration camp prisoners. Courtesy of Boston Art Commission.

Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust - 1997 - At the tip of Battery Park is the Museum of Jewish Heritage.  Its mission is to educate people about the 20th century Jewish experience before, during, and after the Holocaust. Over 2 million people have visited since it opened in 1997.  The Museum's core exhibition combines archival material with modern media to provide a thoughtful and moving chronicle of history, keeping the memory of the past alive and offering hope for the future. 

Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum - 2005 - The rebuilding of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum includes a new visitors` center (Mevoah), a new history museum replacing the existing museum constructed in 1953, a Hall of Names, a synagogue, galleries for Holocaust art, an exhibitions pavilion and a learning and visual center. In addition, new underground parking and facilities for tour buses are located adjacent to a new entrance piazza. The overall program quadruples the permanent exhibition space. The mevoah is an arcaded concrete pavilion roofed by skylights and trellises, which cast everchanging shadow patterns. It is reminiscent of a Succah. The lower level accommodates a restaurant and other public services. The historic museum consists of a mostly underground prismatic structure 16.5 meters high and 183 meters long (54 x 600 feet) that cuts through the Yad Vashem hillside, penetrating from the south and protruding to the north. A network of skylit underground galleries lines both sides of the prism. The Hall of Names, located toward the end of the historic museum, is a conical structure extending upward 9 meters (30 feet) and housing the personal records of all known Holocaust victims. A reciprocal cone, penetrating deep into the Jerusalem bedrock below, echoes the upper chamber and commemorates those whose names will never be known. The 20-hectare (50-acre) site also includes the Children`s Holocaust Memorial and the Transport Memorial, designed by Moshe Safdie and completed in 1987 and 1995, respectively, as well as the Hall of Remembrance, administrative offices, an education and archival center and the Valley of the Communities.

Dutch Holocaust Memorial of Names - 2013 - The Dutch Holocaust Memorial of Names in Amsterdam, designed by renowned architect Daniel Libeskind, was completed in 2021 to commemorate the more than 102,000 Dutch victims of the Holocaust. Situated along Weesperstraat in the city's Jewish Cultural Quarter, the memorial stands as a solemn reminder of the atrocities of World War II.The design incorporates four interconnected volumes, which form the Hebrew word "לזכר" ("In Memory of"). These volumes are constructed from stainless steel with a mirror finish, supported by brick walls engraved with the names, birth-dates, and ages of Holocaust victims. Additionally, 1,000 blank bricks symbolize the unknown victims.Visitors navigate a network of narrow passageways between the brick walls, fostering an intimate, contemplative atmosphere. The reflective steel panels juxtapose the permanence of the engraved bricks, symbolizing memory and resilience.The memorial integrates sustainable materials and was designed to harmonize with its urban surroundings, while its intricate layout invites reflection on the magnitude of the tragedy it represents. It serves as both a historical marker and a space for individual remembrance.

Congregation Beit Simchat Torah - 2016 - Within a landmark Cass Gilbert designed warehouse in New York City is a new home for Congregation Beit Simchat Torah (CBST), the world`s largest LGBTQ Jewish congregation and a progressive voice in Judaism. The new synagogue embodies the community`s core values through an architecture of accessibility, transparency, and warmth. The renovation created spaces for worship, community life, and social justice activism. The first floor includes a multipurpose lobby, offices, and a sanctuary defined by a ribbed concrete wall that is canted to admit daylight.

Melbourne Holocaust Museum - 2023 - Light was a central driver for the Melbourne Holocaust Museum (MHM). Light is linked to illumination, illumination to knowledge, and given that education is central to the purpose of MHM it seemed appropriate to deploy light as a motif and in creating welcoming, functional spaces especially for the education, research and event spaces.Rather than appear as a bunker, a common trope in recent Holocaust Museums, the MHM is visually and physically connected to the community and the street through its façade and interior. The façade utilises glass bricks to meet this desire for transparency while balancing the security demands for a resilient building envelope.It also reinforces MHM’s role as cultural repository by integrating the original heritage building and treating it as an important artefact of the museum.