Museum Maven

It was all she could think about, leading up to the night of Nov. 1: “I was worried about the turnout. We really worked very hard to get this turnout.”

The woman fretting was Jean Friedman, and the event she was stewing over was, for her, the culmination of a dream.

The Discovery Awards Banquet marked the inaugural fundraiser for the Zimmer Children’s Museum, of which Friedman was the founding chairperson. Friedman, along with Sesame Workshop CEO Gary Knell, were honored at the banquet, held at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

But Friedman’s worries proved unnecessary. About 500 guests packed the hotel ballroom for the evening, hosted by revered gag writer Bruce Vilanch. Guests included director Arthur Hiller; “Bonanza” TV series creator David Dortort; Marjorie Pressman, founding chair of Friends of Sheba; and writer Jonathan Kellerman. Also attending were a who’s who of the Jewish educational and nonprofit community: Herb and Beverly Gelfand, Los Angeles-Tel Aviv Partnership supporters; University of Judaism Vice President Dr. Ron Wolfson, and administrators and educators from schools all over the community. The evening grossed $280,000 for the Zimmer, a museum that educates — while it entertains — children of all backgrounds about Jewish values and culture.

“Jean opens your eyes to things in the community,” said Meralee Goldman, incoming mayor of Beverly Hills. “She doesn’t want to just tell you about things, she wants you to experience things with it. It’s more than just giving lip service or writing a check.”

“She’s very active, very involved,” said Dortort, who is familiar with Los Angeles’ Jewish philanthropic circles. “She loves to entertain. She’s the best hostess in town.”

Friedman has been involved with the Jewish-themed interactive facility, a product of the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Los Angeles (JCCGLA), since its inception more than a decade ago. After operating for many years from the WJCC, the Zimmer relocated in September 2000 to its current state-of-the-art facility at the 6505 Wilshire Blvd. headquarters of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, which is JCCGLA’s prime financial supporter. Despite the myriad projects Friedman has helped launch in the Jewish community over the years, the museum’s fundraiser constituted the first large-scale honor for Friedman.

She said that she had found much support when she turned to various entities in Los Angeles’ Jewish community in the idea of a children’s museum,. Speaking to The Journal a day before flying to Australia for her granddaughter’s bat mitzvah, she said, “It wasn’t competitive, it was synergistic. There was always a very warm feeling with the [museum’s] board. Many of them did not have a developed Jewish background, but it affected their lives.”

The Zimmer Children’s Museum is not the first or only Jewish organization that Friedman has had a hand in creating. She also founded the Streisand Center for Jewish Cultural Arts at UCLA and the Jewish Center for the Performing Arts at Temple Israel in Hollywood.

But the Zimmer has always had a special place in her heart. Since it opened, Friedman and Esther Netter, its executive director, have worked as a team to make the museum (originally called “My Jewish Discovery Place”) a thriving, independent entity.

When it began, it occupied 600 square feet at the Westside JCC. Eventually, the space was upgraded to 3,000 square feet, then to its current 10,000 square feet at The Federation’s Bram Goldsmith Family Center.

“We’re teaching traditional Jewish values, which correspond to American justice, fairness, justice,” Friedman said. “Children learn from that exhibition to love your neighbor, the sanctity of life. We wanted a place where younger children and their parents can become involved and become educators as well.”

“Jean has been a formidable partner for me,” Netter said. “She brings a shared vision, energy and enthusiasm for what we are and what we will become.”

Friedman grew up in the Outremont section of Montreal, where going to Jewish school was a multidenominational experience. “That early beginning gave me a real sense of Judaism,” she said. “My parents were Modern Orthodox Jews. I saw that Jewish people really have all these facets in our community. That was very important, and each voice had something special to offer.”

It was in Montreal that Friedman met her husband, real estate developer Jerry Friedman. The couple married when Jean Friedman was 18, and they lived in Montreal’s St. Luc section before moving to Los Angeles.

“I had such a wonderful experience, a lot of creativity, art,” said Friedman. “Jerry had such negative background in day school when he was a kid. He went to such an authoritarian school.” Which is amusing to Friedman, since Jerry later founded Shalhevet, the Modern Orthodox high school on Fairfax and Olympic.

Education and the arts have always been in the forefront of Friedman’s causes. In addition to the Zimmer, Friedman is the founding vice president of the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony and is vice president of the National Foundation Jewish Culture, which recently sponsored The Jewish Image Awards.

“I learned so much through informal education. It’s also fun,” said Friedman, who originally studied to be an actor. “Through the arts [the children] can express, understand, feel, and internalize what they’re learning.”

“My biggest vision is a sense of shalom, of peace,” she said. “I think that the arts have the biggest ability to do this.”

For more information about the Zimmer Children’s Museum, call (323) 761-8989; visit www.zimmermuseum.org .