Agents of Humanity in the Fine Arts
A non-profit working to preserve irreplaceable art, artifacts, and cultures while educating the public.
Agents of Humanity in the Fine Arts
Preserving Cultural Identity
Agents of Humanity in the Fine Arts (AOHFA), with its partners, recover and restitute art, artifacts, and patrimony of cultures that need our help and protection while providing dynamic educational tools on the recovered materials to educational institutions and museums all over the world.
Rescuing Art and Artifacts
Tens of thousands of valuable artifacts and documents, showing incredible ancient history dating back millennia, have been looted by thieves, corrupt officials, and illicit collectors worldwide.
Now is the time to rescue these important artifacts
All over Europe, Nazi-looted art is still missing from hundreds of thousands of rightful owners. Families exiled and forced out of their homes have had their entire communities looted with attempts to erase 2,500 years of history and culture. These are but a few of the historic losses the world has endured.
AOHFA Projects
Iraqi Jewish Archive (IJA)
On a scorching hot day in May 2003, sixteen U.S. soldiers entered the flooded intelligence headquarters of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad, Iraq. The basement housed over 2,700 books and tens of thousands of documents from the oldest Jewish community in the world - under four feet of contaminated water. The artifacts were forcefully taken from Iraq’s Jewish community in the 1970’s. These items, containing some of the greatest treasures in Jewish history, were in danger of being destroyed forever.
Due to the significant importance of these materials, the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), with the permission of the U.S. Provisional government in Iraq, brought these artifacts to Washington D.C. to be properly preserved, cataloged, and shared with the citizens of the United States resulting in over 10,000 artifacts and hundreds of thousands of documents being saved.
The project, named the Iraqi Jewish Archive (IJA), was a huge success. The saved documents began touring museums across the country to tens of thousands of fascinated Americans. Not only was the material preserved and shared, the artifacts and records illustrated the significant impact of Jewish communities in the Middle East for thousands of years.
Thanks to AOHFA’s partners and the U.S. Government, this extraordinary historical treasure is touring in the United States. Once it stops touring, it may be sent back to Iraq to a very uncertain future with no safe place to store the IJA. The goal is to continue promoting the exhibit to various museums, Jewish community centers, universities, churches and synagogues with an interactive curriculum for adults and students, so millions of people can learn about this important discovery and the IJA can remain safe in the United States.
You can make a difference
Join us in saving thousands of one-of-a-kind artifacts from being destroyed and help preserve history for generations to come by becoming an AOHFA partner:
- Make a tax-deductible cash donation
- Make a tax-deductible art donation
- Sponsor an event to introduce AOHFA to friends and colleagues where Executive Director Rayah Levy will share details of our work
Our Leadership
Rayah Levy, Executive Director
Rayah Levy is a leading international due diligence expert, asset manager and investment diamond specialist, art market expert, curator, diamonds market lecturer, and cultural conservator who’s had the privilege of advising collectors and investors around the world.
Rayah’s experience in due diligence in the commodities market has culminated in extensive knowledge and the ability to understand values in primary economic sectors, which greatly contributes to her success in building diverse, investment-grade portfolios for individuals, corporations, investors, and collectors alike.
In 2007, Rayah founded the National Foundation for Women in the Arts, a non-profit in which she worked with museums across the United States to publicly promote female artists.
In 2015, she founded Agents of Humanity in the Fine Arts (AOHFA), testifying in high-profile cases before Congress related to restituting Nazi-looted art, and recovering lost artifacts from around the world for cultures that have struggled to advocate for themselves.
Rayah is proud of her Israeli and Egyptian roots. She is the President of FCD Invest, a Fancy Color Diamond Investment Firm founded in 2019. Visit Rayah's LinkedIn for her full bio.
Our Services
At AOHFA, we help recover, restitute, and salvage art and patrimony to preserve cultural identity before it is lost or destroyed. We also provide the following services:
- Provide education to museums, institutions, and schools regarding history, art, and artifacts of cultures who cannot protect themselves, focusing on the Middle East and North Africa.
- Researching and rescuing art and artifacts that are in danger of being destroyed or stolen, including testifying in court as an expert.
- Fundraising and speaking events, including lectures.
- Support provisional governments in the United States, Middle East, North Africa, and globally to learn about how items are being preserved.
- Collaborate with art and antique experts for preservation.
- Assist museums and educational institutions in correcting and highlighting the historical significance of the artwork and patrimony for various cultures.
Contact Us
Schedule a meeting with our Executive Director
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Agents of Humanity in the Fine Arts
Hours
Open today | 09:00 am – 05:00 pm |
