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A museum devoted to the Jewish Catskills? In Ulster County, one man’s ready to break ground

JL;DR SUMMARY Jack Godfrey, inspired by his family's deep roots in the Catskills, plans to establish the Catskill Resort Museum in Ellenville, New York. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish HistoryAmerican JudaismCultural PreservationBorscht Belt20th CenturyCatskillsEllenvilleJack GodfreyCatskill Resort MuseumJewish Vacation

Places mentioned

Ellenville, New York, United States
"Jack Godfrey, a veteran of the hospitality and restaurant industries and a third-generation member of a resort family from Ellenville, NY, is hoping to change that."
Manhattan, New York, United States
"the museum, which would contain oral histories, a theater, artifacts and film, at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan."
Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States
"working in hotels and eventually running three successful restaurants two bagel shops and a barbecue place in Virginia Beach."
New York, United States
"hopeful that the Catskill Resort Museum will be part of a $10 million downtown revitalization grant from the state of New York"

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This item was indexed and curated by Cairo, JL;DR's web crawler.
Cairo Item ID 84682
Cairo Source ID 35
Retrieved 2026-06-12 05:31:27 UTC
Curated 2026-06-12 08:31:27 UTC