North America Holocaust Museum Tour Presentation on July 24

JMA Returns to Oswego –

July 12, 2025 Contributor Comments Off on North America Holocaust Museum Tour Presentation on July 24
SAFE HAVEN MUSEUM HOSTS ART PIECE HAND-OFF EVENT – Motorcycle clubs from the Jewish Motorcyclists Alliance (JMA) will arrive at the Safe Haven Holocaust Refugee Shelter Museum on Thursday, July 24 for the 11 a.m. presentation of the “Circle of Chai.” The circular metal art sculpture symbolizes the Jewish people’s struggle over the last 5,700 years; representing world-wide Jewish displacement. While the circle is cracked, it is never broken, demonstrating that even though the Jewish people have been tested throughout time, they have never broken with their faith.

OSWEGO – Safe Haven Holocaust Refugee Shelter Museum welcomes the North American Holocaust Museum Tour on Thursday, July 24. Multiple motorcycle clubs in the Jewish Motorcyclists Alliance (JMA) will take part in an 11 a.m. presentation hand-off at the museum located at 2 Barbara Donahue Drive, Oswego, across from Fort Ontario State Historic Site. The event is free and open to the public.

OSWEGO WELCOMES NORTH AMERICA HOLOCAUST MUSEUM TOUR – The North America Holocaust Museum Tour is a motorcycle tour that takes Jewish Motorcyclist Alliance (JMA) members to 21 Holocaust museums in the United States and Canada. JMA is recruiting new members for each “leg” of the ride. The structure and style of the ride are a combination of “Pony Express” and “Olympic Torch.” Each JMA club will sign up to transport the “Circle of Chai” art piece, which was selected specially for this tour, and to take it to the next museum. Pictured are members of the Thou Shalt Ride Club of Syracuse.

During the special event, a symbolic art piece, the “Circle of Chai,” which travels from Tornoto, Ontario, Canada to Oswego, N.Y., will be presented to members of the Thou Shalt Ride Club of Syracuse, N.Y. by the YOW Motorcycle Club of Toronto, Canada and the Riders of the Covenant Club of Thornhill, Canada.

The “Circle of Chai” represents Jewish people’s struggle to survive and how they overcame adversity through the last 5,700 years. The presentation is a positive event for their community; intended to raise awareness about and funding for Holocaust museums.

The Safe Haven Holocaust Refugee Shelter Museum shares the history of the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter, which served as the only camp in the United States for victims of the Nazi Holocaust during World War II, many of whom were Jewish.

The Shelter was where the Holocaust came to America; where Americans first encountered victims of the Holocaust and became their advocates in a long struggle to allow them to remain in the United States after the war in Europe ended. It’s where the press first found a Holocaust story they could relate to, which resulted in more of these stories moving from the back pages of the newspaper to the front page. It’s where the first group of refugees entered the country outside the rigid quota system, which opened the door for later groups of refugees.

The North American Holocaust Museum Tour is sponsored by JMA and began in Charlotte, N.C. on June 8. The tour will end in Washington, D.C. on July 30 after visiting Holocaust museums around the United States and Canada.

To best access Safe Haven Holocaust Refugee Shelter Museum, visitors are recommended to drive north on East Fourth Street in Oswego (off NYS Rte. 104) and take a right onto Barbara Donahue Drive.

For more information on the “Circle of Chai” art piece event or the Safe Haven Holocaust Refugee Shelter Museum, email [email protected], call 315-342-3003 or go online to https://www.safehavenmuseum.com/.

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