Sephardi Heritage Museum of Australia

Our museum, SHMA, was created to showcase that the histories, culture and religious traditions, and lived experiences of Sephardi and other non-Ashkenazi Jewish communities (including from Africa, Middle East, India, and Asia) need to be presented, preserved, and understood within Australia’s cultural landscape.

Housed within the Sassoon Yehuda Sephardi Synagogue, the museum presents as space of cultural continuity, where beautiful and meaningful objects, stories, and traditions form part of our living and ongoing heritage.

Within these abrasive times, when public understanding of Jewish history and identity is often partial or distorted, the role of education is essential.

The SHMA project is fundamentally about knowledge and access: creating conduits to personal and larger histories through collections, experiences, documentation, and interpretation that reflect the meaning and depth of Jewish life.

Beyond our tragedies, there is also beauty and life, of traditions and family connections, of migrations and movements, and above all, Sephardic Jewish worship, with its distinctive musicality and wonderful ritual objects that elevate the congregation.

The Sephardi Heritage Museum of Australia will continue to develop as a serious cultural institution, with its objectives of sharing its historical, religious and cultural treasures and treasured stories more widely with the Australian community in the years ahead.

Interested to donate/loan to SHMA, or organise a visit, please contact us via – info@sephardivic.com

📣ANNOUNCEMENT – we are excited, and honoured, to be recognised in this year’s shortlist, drawn from an impressive 74 nominations, celebrating outstanding achievements across Victoria’s museum, gallery and collecting sector – click here to read more. Thank you AMaGA.