Jewish-American Hall of Fame -- Nominate Somebody

Diana Cohen Altman is a longtime cultural professional. As an exhibition writer at the Smithsonian Institution for 16 years, she helped to develop more than 200 exhibitions for display around the world. For 9 years she served as editor-in-chief of the magazine of the National Association for Museum Exhibition, of which she was a board member. From 2002 to 2008, she was employed by B'nai B'rith International as director of the Klutznick National Jewish Museum/Phil Lax Archive/Center for Jewish Culture.
Ms. Altman has been Associate Publisher of Moment magazine, an international journal of Jewish life, culture, and thought, and currently is Executive Director of the Karabakh Foundation, which celebrates the culture, arts, and heritage of Azerbaijan and the Caucasus.
Diana lives in Virginia with her husband and two sons. In her spare time, Ms. Altman designs and teaches fiber craft. She has won a juried competition for her knitwear design. Ms. Altman holds a bachelors degree in anthropology from Vassar College.

Michael Feldberg, Ph.D. is president of The History Consultancy, LLC, which advises cultural and educational institutions on issues relating to American religious and ethnic history.
From 1991 to 2004, Dr. Feldberg served as executive director of the American Jewish Historical Society, the nation’s oldest ethnic historical organization, and from 2004 to 2008 was its director of research.
Dr. Feldberg is the author or editor of nine books in the fields of American ethnic and immigrant history. His most recent publication is Blessings of Freedom: Chapters in American Jewish History, a collection of his long-running series of articles in the American Jewish press.
He is also the curator of several exhibitions, including From Haven to Home: 350 Years of American Jewish History, which is currently on a national tour.
Feldberg holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of Rochester and an A.B. from Cornell University. He has received several fellowships and award over the course of his career, including ones from the Woodrow Wilson Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Daniel S. Mariaschin is executive vice president of B'nai B'rith International, and the director of the BBI Center for Human Rights and Public Policy (CHRPP). As the organization's top executive officer, he directs and supervises programs, activities, and staff in over 50 countries where B'nai B'rith is represented. As CHRPP director, he is spokesman for B'nai B'rith, interpreting its policies to a variety of audiences, including Congress and the media, and coordinating its programs on issues relating to the Jewish community.
In the United States and abroad, Mariaschin regularly meets with heads of state, prime ministers, foreign ministers, opposition leaders, human rights and religious leaders, and influential members of the media to help protect the rights of Jewish communities worldwide as well as to promote better relations with the State of Israel.
Mariaschin was a member of the Rudolph Giuliani-U.S. delegation to the 2003 Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe conference on anti-Semitism in Vienna and a public advisor to the U.S. delegation at the 2004 conference in Berlin. He participated in negotiations that achieved the transfer of torah scrolls from the Lithuanian government to Israel for use there and in Diaspora Jewish communities. He is a member of the International Advisory Committee of CEANA, the Argentinean commission studying that country's relations with the Nazi regime, and served on the commission on property restitution in Slovakia.
Mariaschin was a member of the U.S. delegation to the International Conference on Holocaust Remembrance, Education and Research; the B'nai B'rith delegation to the State Department's 1998 Holocaust Assets Conference; and has initiated programs on Holocaust education with the Lithuanian Ministry of Education and Science.
The U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad awarded Mariaschin the Cultural Pluralism Award in recognition of his work in Central and Eastern Europe.
Mariaschin received a bachelor of arts degree in history from the University of New Hampshire and his Master's degree in Contemporary Jewish Studies from Brandeis University. He received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of New Hampshire, and has also been honored with the American Jewish Communal Leadership Award from Brandeis University.

Judith Rosenbaum is CEO of the Jewish Women’s Archive, a pioneering national organization that documents Jewish women’s stories, elevates their voices, and inspires them to be agents of change.

An educator, historian, and writer, Judith served for nearly a decade as JWA’s Director of Public History and Director of Education, developing its major programs and educational initiatives.

Judith earned a BA in History from Yale University and a PhD in American Studies from Brown University. She won a Fulbright Fellowship to study women’s collective communities in Israel, and received a dissertation grant from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study to pursue research on the women’s health movement. Judith has taught and lectured widely on Jewish studies and women’s studies at institutions including Brown University, Boston University, Hebrew College, and Gann Academy. She also serves on the faculty of the Bronfman Fellowship and was awarded a Schusterman Fellowship for Jewish leaders.

She has won a juried competition for her knitwear design. Ms. Altman holds a bachelors degree in anthropology from Vassar College.

Sam Asher joined the Virginia Holocaust Museum as Executive Director in 2018. Sam came to VHM from his position as CEO of the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond where he served since 2010.

He was the Executive Vice President of the Jewish Federation of Delaware for over eight years, and was Executive Director of the Hartford Jewish Federation for three years. He also led the St. Paul United Jewish Fund and Council for 10 years. He completed a two year term as Chair of the United Jewish Communities Intermediate Executives’ Group in 1999 and also served on the UJC Strategic Planning Committee and Executive Committee.

He is a native of Detroit and received his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan. He holds a dual Master’s Degree in Social Work/Community Planning from the University of Maryland and Jewish History from the Baltimore Hebrew University.

Jewish-American Hall of Fame founder Mel Wacks was born in the Bronx on July 10, 1938. He began collecting at the age of 10, after his father gave him a pouch of old coins. Mel earned Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Electrical Engineering at CCNY and NYU, respectively, but found his true calling in the world of numismatics. Mel founded The Jewish-American Hall of Fame at the Magnes Museum in 1969, to honor the unique contributions made by Jewish Americans to all phases of the American way of life.
Mel headed the committee that created and produced the official medal commemorating 350 Years of Jewish Life in America (1654-2004). He is proud that he designed the reverses of The Jewish-American hall of Fame medals honoring Houdini, Isaac Bashevis Singer and Elie Wiesel. Mel is also an expert in ancient Judaean coins, and is the author of The Handbook of Biblical Numismatics that is available free at www.amuseum.org/book or can be read on kindle. In addition, he has been on the Board of the American Israel Numismatic Association for most of the past 40 years, and has been serving as President since 2002.
Mel created the content for The Jewish-American Hall of Fame’s website www.amuseum.org, which won the 2002 Numismatic Literary Guild’s Award for “The Best Non-Commercial Web Site.”