Drawing on Tradition: The Book of Esther
February 21- August 15, 2010
 
This exhibition depicts the Book of Esther as you've never seen it before. Featuring the bold and edgy illustrations from JT Waldman's Megillat Esther, this epic tale of exile and redemption is sure to amaze and intrigue. This exhibition has been originated by the Jewish Museum of Maryland. Original drawings Courtesy of JT Waldman.

See also:
http://blogs.cjh.org/YUM_AIR/
http://megillatesther.com/

A Journey Through Jewish Worlds:
Highlights from the Braginsky Collection of Hebrew Manuscripts and Printed Books
March 21, 2010 - August 1, 2010

A Journey Through Jewish Worlds offers museum visitors a first-time glimpse at the rare treasures inside a world-class private collection. This exceptional collection of manuscripts and printed books provides an overview of seven centuries of Jewish creativity and artistry, and features beautifully ornamented legal and liturgical manuscripts, decorated marriage contracts and illustrated scrolls of the Book of Esther, many with richly crafted cases made from precious metals or carved wood. Exhibition highlights include a manuscript written in Germany in 1288, an illustrated Italian marriage contract on parchment with unique cuttings from 1741, and Esther scrolls from Holland, Italy, Greece and India. [View Website] [View Press Release]

Images: Courtesy of the Braginsky Collection. Photography by Ardon Bar-Hama.

Many Lives: A Sculptural Installation by Andrew Rogers
November 22, 2009 - May 16, 2010

Australian artist Andrew Rogers, creator of one of the world's largest contemporary land art projects, transforms the Museum’s garden through sculptural forms suggesting a river bed, a tree of life and rays of light in this specially designed multipart installation. Featuring a large marble relief and twenty carved stones, the installation, conceived in response to the story of our origins in the Book of Genesis, invites contemplation and dialogue on the interaction between ancient life and contemporary society.

Folk Art Judaica by Herman Braginsky
August 9, 2009 -May 2, 2010

Carved ritual objects made of fine and aged woods, including tzedakah boxes, Torah pointers, mizrach plates, mezuzot, dreidels, Torah arks, spice containers, and other works created by self-taught craftsman Herman Braginsky (1912-1999). These meticulously carved objects reveal an appreciation for Jewish tradition and sensitivity for color and material.

Creation and the Ten Commandments: A Visual Journey by Rudi Wolff
August 9 - May 2, 2010

Digital serigraphs inspired by two cornerstone biblical texts: Genesis and the Ten Commandments. An award-winning New York graphic artist, Rudi Wolff creates an abstract language that evokes the primacy and beauty of Creation and suggests the power and moral nuance of the Ten Commandments.

Letters of Conscience: Raphael Lemkin and the Quest to End Genocide
November 15, 2009 - April 18, 2010

This exhibition focuses on the activities and legacy of Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-American Jewish lawyer who coined the term genocide, working relentlessly and inventively to protect the rights and survival of specific groups targeted for destruction. Organized jointly with the American Jewish Historical Society and the Center for Jewish History, this exhibition, which presents a fascinating array of original correspondence and documents, serves as a stirring and important reminder of an individual's ability to better humanity and the future.

See also:
http://www.cjh.org/lemkin/
http://lemkin.cjh.org/exhibits/show/letters-of-conscience/

In the Beginning: Artists Respond to Genesis
November 22, 2009 - February 28, 2010

In the Beginning re-imagines the first chapter of Genesis through a series of commissioned works by dynamic and internationally acclaimed contemporary artists including: Alan Berliner, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Matthew Ritchie, Ben Rubin, and Shirley Shor. Featuring diverse conceptual approaches and artistic practices, the artists challenge viewers to consider various ideas about the origins of our universe and our beginnings.

[View Press Release]

The exhibition In the Beginning: Artists Respond to Genesis was organized by the Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, and has been adapted by the Yeshiva University Museum for this presentation.
Image: Shirley Shor, The Well, 2008. Multimedia installation. Commissioned by the Contemporary Jewish Museum. Courtesy of the artist and Mike Weiss Gallery. Photo credit: Bruce Damonte.

 

Hyman Bloom: A Spiritual Embrace
September 13, 2009 - January 24, 2010

Considered by Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock to be "the first Abstract Expressionist in America," Hyman Bloom never gave up representational art. He began his career by painting rabbis, cantors and Torah covers, using them as a metaphor for his own spiritual questioning. This exhibition of nearly 50 paintings and drawings by the renowned Boston Expressionist painter reveals his recurring interest in these motifs and his exploration of Jewish spirituality and mysticism through a distinctly personal modernist
style. [View Press Release]

This exhibition was organized by the Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham, Massachusetts, and was curated by its Director, Katherine French.

From Malabar and Beyond: The Jews of India
March 30, 2009 - October 2, 2009

This exhibition, featuring artifacts, heirlooms and photographs gathered from local families and collections, provides a glimpse into the rich traditions and aesthetic character of India's Jewish communities. In modern times, the once vibrant Jewish communities of India, who trace their origins to the days of King Solomon and the Babylonian Exile of 586 BCE, diminished in size as thousands of Jews emigrated to Israel, the United Kingdom, and North America

Duet for Soloists: Robin Rapoport and Edward Milstein
September 16 - October 7, 2009

Robin Rapoport is a sculptor and choreographer, juxtaposing elements of whimsy and darkness in sculptural installations and through dancers in motion. Edward Milstein is a painter whose large scale geometric canvases explore color and pattern, creating an intriguing aesthetic experience. The artists are husband and wife - each creates his or her artwork according to an individualistic regimen and approach, yet their creativity is fostered through their relationship. This exhibition portrays their work in tandem -- each artist as an individual, and their oeuvre as a couple joined together in marriage and in life.

I of the Storm: Michael Hafftka Recent Work
March 22 - August 30, 2009

Michael Hafftka, the son of Holocaust survivors, constantly reflects his Jewish religious and historical heritage in his subject matter. The Hill (Jerusalem), a major large scale triptych painting by Hafftka was recently donated by the artist to Yeshiva University Museum. A selection of Hafftka's expressionist works, including his never before seen series on Hebrew Letters and his most recent work in progress on the Zohar, will comprise an exhibition of the artist's Jewish-themed work. [View Press Release]

Joseph, the Bull and the Rose: Anette Pier
February 26 - August 30, 2009

Anette Pier takes the theme of the bull (shor) and relates it to the multi-faceted biblical figure of Joseph. Working from within her Mexican tradition, Pier builds upon the image of the bull as a metaphor for Joseph's magnetism, charisma, and acquired identity. The artist visually demonstrates how bullfighting is a dance and power play with the matador paralleling Joseph's relationship with his brothers. [View Press Release]

Passages: Sculpture by L.T. Syms
March 24 - September 1, 2009

The figurative sculptures of Lynn Syms represent people drawn from her life and Jewish tradition. A native of New York City, Syms received formal training in space planning and design - a background evident in the formal qualities of her sculpture.

Final Mourner's Kaddish:
333 Days in Paintings by Max Miller
February 26 - August 16, 2009

Max Miller painted various synagogues that he frequented while saying Kaddish for his father over the required 11 month period. Miller created both a visual and written record of his travels through paintings in vivid colors and writings about his experiences. While honoring the tradition of memorializing a parent, he reflects on humanity and takes a spiritual journey. [View Press Release]

Testimony and Memory:
Contemporary Miniature Torah Mantles
by Carole Smollan
February 26 - July 26, 2009

Carole Smollan combines her patternmaking and design experience with her love of Hiddur Mitzvah and Judaica to create contemporary artworks. Working out of studios in London and Portugal, Smollan has created a series of richly dressed miniature Torah mantles from textile remnants of the many wedding canopies the artist created for bridal couples all over the world in silk, velvet, and viscose using dye, shibori, paint, and stitching. [View Press Release]

Abstraction, Figuration and the Spiritual David Stern: The American Years (1995-2008)
September 21, 2008 - February 8, 2009

David Stern was born in Essen, Germany. Since 1995 he has been living and working in New York City. Stern captures life's intensity on canvas, dealing mainly with urban themes, working to convey authentic energies in his paintings. His subjects include single and multiple figures working through their pain, their friendships, and their crises. What excites Stern as a painter are not the objects themselves but the energies felt by those objects. The Yeshiva University Museum is the first venue of a national traveling exhibition curated by Karen Wilkin, who has written: "David Stern can be described, with equal accuracy, as a figurative painter who freely reconstitutes his perceptions with emphasis on the materiality of his medium, as a genre painter who deals with contemporary experience, or as an expressionist who discovers suggestive images by exploring the physical qualities of paint."

This exhibition is a sponsored project of the New York Foundation for the Arts with additional funding from individual donors.

Erfurt: Jewish Treasures from Medieval Ashkenaz
September 9, 2008 - January 29, 2009

In 1998, a remarkable hoard of medieval Jewish treasures was discovered in the Jewish quarter in Erfurt, a small town in central Germany. Hidden within the foundations of a mid-12th century house, the treasure contained coins, gold, and silver jewelry. The Erfurt treasure represents one of the largest collections of personal jewelry from the Gothic period. Jewish merchants and moneylenders often buried their wealth because of the Black Death and other persecutions. Scholars believe that a Jewish merchant or moneylender buried the treasure just before the vicious massacre of Erfurt's Jews in 1349.

Organized by Thüringisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie, Germany

This exhibition is sponsored by the Leon Levy Foundation, with additional funding provided by the David Berg Foundation and Lufthansa.

Soshana - Life and Work
August 31, 2008 - March, 1 2009

Soshana, born Susanne Schüller in 1927 in Vienna, was forced to flee in 1938, first to Switzerland, France, England, and finally New York. She had her first major exhibition in Havana in 1948, using the name Soshana as a pseudonym. Her early works are portraits and still lifes painted in a realistic naïve style. Her style changed to abstract reflecting the political circumstances of the post WWII era and her reaction to world events. Soshana created her own visual language using strong expressionist strokes bringing to the surface her subconscious fears and hopes. Her work contains an underlying insecurity and existential yearning for a better time with moments of vivid clarity and hope.

This exhibition is sponsored by the Federal Ministry for European and International Affaires of the Republic of Austria and the Austrian Cultural Forum, New York.

The Suitcase Man: Sculpture by Uri Dushy
September 21 - December 31, 2008

Uri Dushy's suitcase man is made of steel and is an allegorical figure of the Jew who is forced to travel without a home of his own, without stopping to unload his personal baggage. Five decades after the Holocaust, Dushy has used the icon of the wandering Jew as testimony to those who perished but also as a symbol of man's eternal dream. The majority of his sculptures have been influenced by film art and theatrical set designs.

Celestial Nights: Visions of an Ancient Land
Photographs by Neil Folberg
May 11 - August 24, 2008

In this exhibition organized by the Aperture Foundation, Neil Folberg's spectacular 2001 series of black-and-white photographs captures the drama and spirituality of night skies in Israel and the Sinai. Born in San Francisco, Folberg resides in Jerusalem, and is a former student of Ansel Adams. His photographs have been collected by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, and the Tel-Aviv Museum.
 

Albert Dov Sigal 1912 - 1970
March 5 - August 31, 2008

Albert Dov Sigal was an expert enamellist who transformed the ancient media into an art form and contributed to a renaissance in enamels in Europe and the United States. This exhibition includes a selection of work by one of the first artists to arrive in Israel from Kolozsvar, Transylvania in 1948.  

The Papercut Haggadah: Archie Granot
March 5 - August 31, 2008

Fifty five highly intricate papercuts for a Passover Haggadah by virtuoso artist Archie Granot, specially commissioned for a private collection. Combining complex geometric motifs with Hebrew text, the multi-layered papercuts are technically amazing and visually stunning. Granot lives in Jerusalem; his work is featured in the collections of the Jewish Museum, New York, the Israel Museum, Jerusalem and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Imagining the Temple: The Models of Leen Ritmeyer
March 5 - August 31, 2008

This exhibition inaugurates a new gift to the museum of five architectural models by the family of Benjamin Adelman of Silver Spring, MD. The models, which represent the Biblical Tabernacle (Mishkan) and both Jerusalem Temples, were designed by Dr. Leen Ritmeyer and built in 1996 by the York Modeling Company of York, England. Ritmeyer, a Dutch scholar and the site architect for the Temple Mount excavations in Jerusalem, was a friend of Benjamin and Kitty Adelman, who helped found the American Friends of the Israeli Exploration Society.

The Six Day War Series: Paintings by Ira Moskowitz
March 5 - August 31, 2008

This series of eight oil paintings was gifted to the museum collection by the family of Ira and Ann Moskowitz in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem. In these emotionally powerful scenes, artist Ira Moskowitz (1912-2001) depicts events following the Six Days' War, June 1967. His use of vivid color and expressive brushwork conveys the euphoria of this victorious moment in Israel's history. 

Inspired by Kafka: Varda Rotem Sculptures
February 3 - August 31, 2008

These bronze sculptures by Tel Aviv-based artist Varda Rotem were inspired by the literary themes of Franz Kafka: the challenge to capture the essence of man's conflict with his destiny and his desire to be released from his chains. Rotem's source of sculptural inspiration is the work of Alberto Giacometti. Rotem was born in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, and was educated at Hebrew University, Jerusalem and the Avni Institute of Art, Tel Aviv. The exhibition opening will also launch The Jerusalem Review, an independent journal, in the U.S.

Bread/Lechem: Photographs by Margalit Mannor
February 3 - August 3, 2008

Thirteen large color photographs by Tel Aviv native Israeli artist, Margalit Mannor, document a little-known phenomenon in Israel today - the process by which stale bread is collected from Israeli bakeries and recycled into cattle fodder. Initiated by a Jewish man who fled a Polish ghetto in 1943, this small-scale recycling effort has since expanded, and is now practiced on farms throughout Israel, calling to mind the name, 'Bethlehem', derived from the Hebrew words, beit and lechem, meaning 'Home of Bread.' Mannor's work is included in the collections of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, the Tel Aviv Museum, the Jewish Museum, New York, and the Brooklyn Museum, among others.

Gan ha-Besamim (Garden of Spices): Hana Behar-Paneth, Jerusalem
March 5 - May 18th, 2008

A remarkable collection of silver and wood spice boxes by Jerusalem artist Hana Behar Paneth illustrates her lifelong fascination with the foliage and plants of Israel, combining contemporary craftsmanship with traditional fruit and floral motifs. Paneth studied under the great Israeli silversmiths Ludwig Wolpert, David Gumbel and Menahem Berman at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem. Her work is found in public and private collections around the world.

Picturing Jerusalem: James Graham and Mendel Diness, Photographers
December 4, 2007-April 24, 2008

This exhibition of work by James Graham and Mendel John Diness, two leading 19th-century photographers working in Palestine in the 1850s, explores progress made in the field of photography during that decade, as well as the political and social aspects of the Holy Land under Ottoman rule. On view will be rare photograph albums by the two artists, and such artifacts as a lens belonging to Diness, a wooden negative box, and a notebook.

This exhibition has been organized by the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.

Rejoicing in Tsfat and Meron: Capturing the Fervor Photography by Win Robins
November 4, 2007-February 24, 2008

Win Robins, a retired lawyer and corporate executive, is a frequent visitor to Israel, where he volunteers his time to Livnot U'Lehibanot'an organization in Tzfat that, among other things, is rebuilding bomb shelters in the city that had been hit hard in last summer's war. During this time, he documented the joyous celebrations in the ancient mystical town, where the melodies of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach still resound.  

Alfred Dreyfus: The Fight for Justice
October 14, 2007-February 17, 2008

In 1894, Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French army was wrongfully arrested and jailed for treason. His trial and the political scandal that ensued left France bitterly divided for decades, with liberal intellectuals on one side, and the clergy and military on the other. This exhibition revisits the trial and its aftermath in a completely new way: through Dreyfus’s personal effects.

Approximately 200 objects from the family archive will be on view, including photographs, posters, letters, and the original "J’accuse…!" newspaper article, written by Emile Zola to the president of France on January 14, 1898.

This exhibition has been organized by the Musée d'art et d'histoire du Judaïsme, Paris.
[ View exhibition website ]

Encompassing Sukkot Memories: Jane Trigere
October 28, 2007 - January 30, 2008

An assemblage of memorabilia having to do with the holiday of Sukkot in the tradition of Joseph Cornell - together with anecdotes collected by the artist; each memory has a distinct space of its own and together they form a collage of memories. Jane Trigere is a costume and set designer, an art bookbinder, a calligrapher, a cobbler, an eyeglass frame designer, a museum director, a teacher, an embroiderer, a painter, and most recently, a textile artist. 

Sukkah/Bus Stop: Aleksandr Razin
September 16, 2007 - January 13, 2008

This installation connects an American Pop symbol (a bus stop) and the holiday of Sukkot, the period during which the Israelites wandered the desert living in huts, their last stop before they entered the Promised Land.  Uniting the two symbols into one, Razin attempts to create a universal Sukkah with all its associations: shelter, protection, transience, migration. The artist incorporates posters prevalent on NYC bus stops: "Free Time Share" on a desert scene and "Map Tips" charting the movements of his own family from ancient Egypt to modern day New York City, with stops in Israel, Spain, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Uzbekistan and New York.  

Mehitzah: Seen by Women
A Photographic Essay by Myriam Tangi, Paris, France
October 11, 2007 - January 13, 2008

Myriam Tangi explores the distance and separation between men and women in the Jewish tradition, specifically in synagogues and places of prayer. Various architectural strategies are employed in order to ensure that men do not see women, and women have a limited view of men.  The area for women is often placed behind the space for men, physically separated by a mehitzah which can be a curtain, a latticed wall, or a folding screen. The artist is an observant Jew, was born in Paris where she lives and works, and expresses her creativity in painting, poetry and photography.  

Ezrat Nashim
Installation by Miriam Stern
September 16, 2007-January 13, 2008

This site-specific installation is a multimedia artwork that deals with a sense of separateness, prayer, and spiritual community-the issues symbolized by the mechitzah (partition) that sets apart the Ezrat Nashim, the women's area in a traditional Jewish synagogue. Its creator, painter and printmaker Miriam Stern, often focuses on women's issues as they relate to the Jewish tradition and Midrashic texts.

Ten freestanding, larger than life-size painted silhouettes of specific women comprise a "minyan," placed strategically within the gallery to reflect the often narrow confines of the women's section. Starting with the premise that prayer is both a collective and individual experience, Stern tries to capture the tension between one's desire to be part of a community while at the same time maintaining one's unique identity. The sound of prayers will be heard throughout the environment as the women chant the Hallel service.

From Darkness to Light
The paintings of Laura Murlender
A "Disappeared" who survived!
June 12 -- November 11, 2007

Between 1976 and 1983, Argentina was under military rule. During this period, Jews were increasingly targeted for kidnapping and torture by the ruling junta. Laura Murlender, a native of Buenos Aires was abducted at the age of nineteen by government forces and placed in solitary confinement. After she was "liberated by mistake," she fled to Tel Aviv where she began rebuilding her "destroyed" identity. Murlender was accepted at Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem, and began a search for structure and a sense of unity in art by using a variety of media and materials in her oil paintings, mixed media on canvas, works on paper and photography. Through her art, she managed the transition from darkness to light. Her quest is reflected in the different series she developed since 1982, an expression of her personal life history in Black, Red, White and Blue based on photographs Murlender has taken herself of archaeological sites in Israel. Through color and linear grids, the artist transcends the stone walls her Jewish identity has created for her and therein her artwork becomes a timeline for her own personal history.

The exhibition is sponsored, in part, by the Friends of Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design.

Ita B'Ita: Ita Aber in Her Time
60 Years of Creativity and Innovation by Ita Aber
June 24 - October 14, 2007

This retrospective exhibition shows us 60 years of one artist's oeuvre in fiber, painting, sculpture, appliqué, embroidery, and printing, most inspired by ancient Jewish art from a contemporary feminist and humanitarian vantage point. It is exceedingly diverse - it includes Purim masks, beaded mezuzot, jewelry, ceremonial Judaica, and synagogue adornments done in appliqué, embroidery, patchwork and pieced fabrics.

Ita Aber has been a New York artist, conservator, historian and curator for over three decades. Her works can be found in private and museum collections in the U.S. and Israel, including the Brooklyn Museum, Yeshiva University Museum, The Jewish Museum, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, The Newark Museum, the Smithsonian Institute and the Israel Museum.

Poets' Portraits: Lines For My Image
Drawings and Sculpture by Zvi Lachman, Tel-Aviv
April 22 - August 26, 2007

Lachman's portraits combine visual impressions from observation, photographs, and memory, and juxtapose the portraits with the poems. The artist seeks to capture the relationship between the inner life of each writer and poet; his or her view of the world; and the impression that their work has left on the artist. His subjects include Haim Nachman Bialik, Elsa Lasker-Schueler; Lea Goldberg; Uri Zvi Grinberg; Avot Yeshurun; Yona Wallach; Shai Agnon; and others.

The Illuminated Torah: Yonah Weinrib
The entire Book of Exodus, Illustrated
February 4 - May 27, 2007

Rabbi Yonah Weinrib is both a Torah scholar and an artist. This amazing manuscript was executed as a private commission. It combines pen and ink, watercolor, gouache, and airbrush painting on parchment, together with calligraphy, micrography, and elaborate illumination. The illustrations are based on Rabbi Weinrib’s profound scholarship and knowledge of traditional commentaries. He has exhibited and lectured extensively in the U.S. and the international Jewish community. This is his third exhibition at Yeshiva University Museum. (Read more)

Kikar Zahav Tahor "A Talent of Pure Gold"
Illuminated Miniatures by Barbara Wolff
February 11 - June 3, 3007

The great treasures of Medieval manuscripts are distinguished by the miniature worlds they open to us, a world that New York artist Barbara Wolff has recreated in this exhibition. In her own miniature universe, Barbara Wolff invites the viewer to take part in the personal dialogue between the artist and her subjects-the flowers, fruits, and landscapes of the Bible. Simile and metaphor are often expressed in Biblical literature by the terms and symbols of nature, specifically the natural phenomena and seasons of ancient Israel. Wolff's mastery of Medieval and Renaissance artists' techniques and materials is apparent in her fluency with burnished gold on vellum and hand-ground pigments like azurite, malachite and lapis lazuli.

Reuben Kadish's Holocaust Sculpture
February 4 - April 22, 2007

Expressionist brutality and raw emotion manifest themselves in the work of Reuben Kadish, a sculptor, draughtsman, painter and printmaker. The son of parents who had immigrated from Kovno in Czarist Russia (now Lithuania), Kadish was brought up in a Yiddish speaking traditional family. Born in Chicago but raised in California, Kadish studied at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles together with Philip Guston( Goldstein) . He worked alongside David Alfaro Siqueiros, the left-wing muralist, in Morelia, Mexico, and then became an artist of the Depression era WPA- the Works Public Administration. During WWII, he was assigned to document bombed-out villages in Burma and India; those searing experiences resulted in his creating an impressive series of deeply scored terra cotta and bronze sculptures that viscerally reflected his Abstract Expressionist roots. It was at this point in his life-- the late 1940's-- that his career as a painter virtually ended and he settled down to become a dairy farmer in Northern New Jersey, toiling the land and working as a sculptor. The bronze works in this Sculpture garden reflect Reuben Kadish's ferocious reaction to the horrific world events and crimes against humanity that he personally witnessed during World War II, as well as his fierce response to the Holocaust and Hiroshima.

Chana Cromer
The Story of Joseph: Unveiling the Text
November 19, 2006 - March 25, 2007

A graduate of the Bezalel Art Institute in Jerusalem, and a Torah student for many years, Jerusalem fiber artist and teacher Chana Cromer has created a series of fabric wall hangings that reflect the text and commentary in the story of Joseph. Drawing our attention to the centrality of cloth in the Biblical narrative, Cromer's multilayered artworks shed light on the complex layers of Joseph's personality and the interfacing symbolism in his "coat of many colors."
Read More

Feminine Principals: Works in Iron, Fiber and Glass
Orna Ben-Ami; Georgette Benisty; Saara Gallin
May 23, 2006 - January 28, 2007

This exhibition illustrates how the artists' works reflect the inherent qualities of their chosen media (the permanence and rigidity of iron; the fragility and luminescence of glass; the richness and "femininity" of textiles) and, simultaneously, how these works reflect the commonalities of the artists' shared experiences as women and Jews. Read More

The Holocaust in the Paintings of Valentin Lustig
May 23, 2006 - January 28, 2007

A postwar child of East European Holocaust survivors, Lustig has created symbolic scenarios of this traumatic period of history. Using his fertile imagination, the artist has developed his own iconography consisting of people, animals, landscapes, still-lifes, architecture in a Surrealist style relating to the works of Dali, de Chirico, and Magritte, and sharing the detail and impact of Hieronymus Bosch. Born in Cluz, Romania, he studied painting in Florence, Italy and has lived in Israel but now resides in Zurich, Switzerland. He has exhibited in Germany, Switzerland and the U.S.

At the Altar of her Memories: A memorial to a lost family
Video installation by Tova Beck-Friedman
Puppets by Bracha Ghilai
May 23, 2006 - January 28, 2007

An installation of hand-made puppets by Bracha Ghilai, who, at the age of seventeen, following liberation from Bergen-Belsen, came to Israel to start her life over, established a puppet theatre as a part of her healing process.

The Max Stern Collection of Judaica
May 9, 2006 - January 28, 2007

Motivated by his desire to preserve a Jewish heritage devastated by the Holocaust, Max Stern, founder of Hartz Mountain pet products, built a collection of over 400 Judaica items. Many pieces originally came from famous collections, including the Zagayski, Feinberg and Davidowitz Collections. This selected exhibition includes a variety of ceremonial metalwork and textiles dating from the 17th century to the present, created in North Africa, Europe, Iran, Galicia and Turkey.

Resistance and Memory in Belgium: 1940-1945
Images Past and Present
A Documentary Installation by Anne Griffin with Contemporary Photographs by Jean-Marc Gourdon
May 23, 2006 - Janurary 14, 2007

This documentary exhibition presents wartime images, contemporary portraits, and personal testimonies of 25 courageous men and women who, more than 60 years ago, actively resisted Nazi occupation in their small country, Belgium. (Based on research by Dr. Anne Griffin.)

Vincent Capraro's Vision: Paintings and Drawings
June 11, 2006 - November 2, 2006

Vincent Capraro's work is reminiscent of both Rembrandt and Goya, as his drawings and large, mural-scale paintings evoke the suffering of humanity and the horrors of the Holocaust. He is inspired by nature, artists of the past, and by political and social events that have touched his soul.

Traders on the Sea Routes: 12th Century Trade Between East and West
September 7, 2003 - August 13, 2006

This interactive exhibit traces the routes of medieval Jewish merchants. Maps and models of sailing vessels (an Arab dhow and a Venetian Galley) show the merchants' method and means of travel from India and Venice to Cairo, while activity stations offer insite into the lives of traders living in the Middle Ages, a glimpse into Cairo Genizah, and a visit to Maimonides' study.

Passover Landscapes: Illuminations on the Exodus Art Haggadah
By Rabbi Matthew Berkowitz
April 9, 2006 - August, 13 2006

This new limited edition of Art Haggadah, interpreted in rich vibrant colors, invites the viewer to participate in an inspiring Seder experience. Berkowitz, an educator and artist, designed and created the striking work in Israel; its intricate papercut designs, handmade endpapers, and landscape-like cover, echo the natural beauty of the Holy Land.

Framed by Words The Art of Mark Podwal
February 12, 2006 - April 30, 2006

In pen and ink, gouache and watercolor this prolific artist universalizes the meaning of Jewish history, tradition and Biblical imagery. This comprehensive exhibition features over 80 drawings and paintings highlighting Podwal's diverse and extensive career of over thirty years. A sense of hope, joy, and the miraculous infuses each of Podwal's often humorous and always clever images.

A Perfect Fit : The Garment Industry and American Jewry
December 4, 2005 - April 2, 2006

The history of American fashion - from Gold Rush-era to Hollywood-inspired glamour and the evolution of the American workplace with its careful balance between management and organized labor, are explored in this exhibition. Costumes, accessories, industrial equipment, photographs, artwork, archival materials, and audiovisual installations will illustrate the impact of the garment industry on American culture and its role in the formation of American Jewish history. A Perfect Fit brings to life the story of how American Jews built an industry stretching from Seventh Avenue to every corner of the nation. Read More | View Website

From New York to Jerusalem: A Jewish Artist's Journey Home Photo-Realist Max Ferguson
October 11, 2005 - January 29, 2006

A spiritual and geographic journey, this exhibition traces the artist's roots back to his great great grandparents in Eastern Europe. Originally from a secular background, Ferguson has gradually reclaimed his Jewish identity. A widely exhibited Photo-Realist, he has written memoir-like notes to accompany his paintings, which capture images and sites integral to New York and Jewish culture in the U.S. and Europe. Sites include Coney Island, Katz's Deli, a Matzo bakery, as well as European and Israeli venues.

Mining the Collection: Recent Acquisitions
July 12, 2005 - October 2, 2005

An exhibition of selected works acquired since the Museum relocated to Chelsea in 1999. Given the Museum's interdisciplinary nature, its collections are eclectic and wide- ranging, spanning 2000 years of Jewish aesthetic achievement. An ossuary from the Roman Period (1st century BCE - 1st century CE); a bronze bust by Sir Jacob Epstein (1880-1959); a Miriam's Cup by Tobi Kahn (Rkadh,1998); a souvenir photograph from the 13th Zionist Congress (1923); a Tallit bag from late 19th - early 20th century, Shanghai; and ---are some of the treasures harvested in recent years, either as gifts or purchases. Walking through this exhibition is like strolling the corridors of the Jewish historical experience.

Memory Imprints: A Sculptural Installation by Tova Beck Friedman
June 12, 2005 - October 2, 2005

Inspired by ancient architecture and archaeological sites in the land of Israel, Tova Beck-Friedman sculpts the raw desert formations of her birthplace and incorporates the human figure into her work. Their towering dimensions impart strength and force but despite their size, they are lightweight - made of recycled pulped paper. Beck-Friedman was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, now lives in New York and has created many site-specific installations around the world.

Four Centuries of Jewish Weddings
May 29, 2005 - October 2, 2005

Celebrating the Jewish wedding in a display of pieces from the Museum's permanent collection that span four hundred years. On view are accessories for bride and groom, wedding rings, ketubbot and paintings. From a 16th century German wedding ring to an 18th century ketubbah from Verona to a 20th century painting by Abraham Ratner, this mini-exhibition offers a taste of YUM's acquisitions.

Greetings From Home : 350 Years of American Jewish Life
May 17, 2005 - September 25, 2005

This exhibition highlights 350 years of the American Jewish experience, from the first settlement in New Amsterdam in 1654 to today's remarkable community. The exhibition features artifacts from the exhibition organized and presented by the Library of Congress, accompanied by historic treasures from the unparalleled collections of the Center partners. This exhibition has been organized by the American Jewish Historical Society.

Printing The Talmud: From Bomberg to Schottenstein
April 12, 2005 - August 28, 2005

A fascinating exploration into the world of Talmud study, this exhibit illustrates how technological advances - the invention of the printing press more than 500 years ago and the impact of computers in recent decades - have transformed the ancient discipline of Talmud study into an accessible pursuit available to all. The exhibition features outstanding examples of early Talmud manuscripts and rare examples of early printed volumes, including one of the few extant complete sets of the printed edition of the famed Bomberg Talmud. This set is composed primarily of tractates printed in Venice between 1526 and 1531. Read More | View Website

A Taste Of The Past: The Daily Life and Cooking of a 19th -Century Hungarian Jewish Homemaker
April 10, 2005 - July 19, 2005

Realistic pen and ink illustrations show us daily Jewish life in Moson, a small industrial town in western Hungary, at the turn of the century. The artist, born in Budapest and now living in New York, is the author of an illustrated book based on his great-grandmother's life. A selection of family memorabilia is included.

Manhattan Mincha Map
Photographs by Jaime Permuth
January 30, 2005- June 19, 2005

Jaime Permuth, born and raised in Guatemala and now living in New York City, was fascinated by the signs depicting Mincha minyans in Manhattan. In the aftermath of September 11, he began documenting the diverse places where Jewish men congregate for afternoon prayers. His photographs invite the viewer into business and commercial environments that transform daily into intensely private and emotionally-charged places. Read More

Serif/Serafim: Out of Emptiness
Sculpture by Jeffrey Schrier
January 30, 2005- May 29, 2005

Seven cut steel sculptures of figurative Hebrew words exploring the idea of messengers. Inspired by early 20th-century Jewish papercuts and the Kabbalah, these works explore the interplay of light and shadow, and are infused with the energy of the sculptures' titles: Wisdom, Soul, Joy, Love, Righteousness, Compassion, and Knowledge.

K' nex Synagogue Models
Models by Jason Gross
February 20, 2005 - May 29, 2005

A selection of delightful historic synagogue models built from K'NEX, the children's construction toy, was created as a bar mitzvah project by 13-year-old Jason Gross of Suffolk, NY, who is an honor student at Commack Middle School. He was inspired by the rabbi at East Northport Jewish Center, who encourages bar and bat mitzvah students to develop a mitzvah project. Jason planned and built 12 synagogue models out of a construction play set, including the Altneuschul, Prague; Touro Synagogue, Newport, Rhode Island; the legendary Kaifeng Synagogue, China; and Beth Elohim in Charleston, South Carolina.

Having Trouble To Pray
Drawings and Paintings by Moico Yaker
February 6, 2005 - May 1, 2005

An existential crisis assumes fantastical dimensions in "Having Trouble to Pray", Moico Yaker's lush, lyrical and sometimes whimsical series chronicling his attempts to "draw" the prayer he is unable to physically perform.
The flora and fauna of Yaker's native Peru take center stage and tefillin take on a life of their own in the artist's strange and beautiful imagery. The prayer-challenged protagonist attempts to fulfill his obligation even as he is tied with his own straps to a banana tree, carried away by butterflies, and balances on the nose of a seal, along with other misadventures. In other works in the show, kabbalistic imagery materializes in the rain forest and rabbis emerge from hiding places in the jungle. Read More

The Manchester Megillah
Moshe and Mechel Haffner
January 16, 2005 - March 27, 2005

An original illustrated Megillat Esther by father and son Moshe and Mechel Haffner of Manchester, England, in which most characters are depicted as Hassidim. The Hebrew calligraphy is the work of Mechel, and the black and white illustrations are by his father, Moshe. Both are self-taught. An accompanying selection of drawings based on Jewish subjects is by Moshe Haffner.

Two Crowns: One Crooked, One Straight
August 22, 2004 - February 6, 2005

After WWII, Yeshiva University received a Judaica collection from the Jewish Cultural Reconstruction (JCR) - an organization that was founded to catalogue, identify, and place Jewish cultural and religious artifacts looted by Nazis during the Holocaust. One elaborately gilded Torah crown was recently restored thanks to a conservation grant received by YUM from the Lower Hudson Conference; it is a beautiful example of Central-Eastern European Judaica craftsmanship of the late 19th or early 20th century. The second crown bears the marks of its battered experience and is still in need of restoration.

Stern College: Five Decades, One Dream
October 24, 2004 – January 23, 2005

This exhibition celebrates the fiftieth anniversary Jubilee of Stern College for Women of Yeshiva University. It will feature photographs, documents, and artifacts as well as oral and video histories of women representing each of the five decades of the college's existence. Personal, communal and intellectual history and achievements will be explored.

Becoming An American Writer: The Life of Issac Bashevis Singer
November 15, 2004 - January 16, 2005

In conjunction with the nationwide celebration of the centennial of Isaac Bashevis Singer's birth, this NEH funded traveling exhibition highlights important manuscript and archival collections related to this literary giant - the only Nobel laureate to have written in Yiddish. The exhibition traces Singer's life from Poland to America and includes Singer's famous Yiddish typewriter, handwritten notes and letters, early drafts of stories, manuscripts, his 1978 Nobel Prize certificate, and numerous other artifacts and documents, photographs, and memorabilia rarely seen and drawn from the Singer archive at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center of the University of Texas at Austin. Organized by the Library of America, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas, Austin and YIVO Institute. Read More

Pernambuco/Brazil: Gateway to New York
September 8, 2004 - January 16, 2005

The exhibition Pernambuco/Brazil: Gateway to New York, focuses on the Sephardic Jewish presence in Recife, Pernambuco during the 16th & 17th centuries, and highlights its influence on the first Jewish community in North America. When 23 Jews from Recife arrived in Dutch New Amsterdam in 1654, they established the beginning of American Jewish life. This exhibition consists of models, photographs, paintings, and videos and was organized by Arquivo Historico Judaico de Pernambuco and is co-sponsored by the American Sephardi Federation.

Benjamin Levy: The Magician
September 8, 2004 - January 2, 2005

Benjamin Levy divides his time between New York and Israel. His fantastical, often whimsical, bronze figures of family and friends frequently incorporate birds, cats, and other animals.

David Moss: A Pueblo Portfolio
September 8, 2004 – January 2, 2005

David Moss, an American-born Jerusalem resident, is a major figure in the international renaissance of Hebrew calligraphy (especially in ornamented marriage contracts or ketubbot) and the book arts. Now he has turned his attention to clay as well; in addition to decorating clay pots, he has created a series of ornamental prints. The exhibition traces the influence of Pueblo pottery design and Native American aesthetics and spiritual traditions on Moss' artistic career.

Longing For The Sacred: Destroyed Synagogues
May 18, 2004 - October 8, 2004

Longing for the Sacred features paintings and stained glass models by two European-born artists, Greta Schreyer and Felix Reisner, of synagogues destroyed in the Holocaust. A Viennese artist who fled Europe at the onset of World War II, Greta Schreyer now lives in New York City. In her dream-like and mystical oil paintings, Schreyer re-creates from memory images of the Red Forest that hid partisans, as well as six Polish Russian synagogues that were destroyed. Stained glass models built by Felix Reisner, a self-taught craftsman, of five of the same synagogues, complement the paintings. The synagogues Include the Great Synagogue in Warsaw, the Stara synagogue in Lodz, the Great Synagogue of Danzig, and the Frankfurt am Main Synagogue. Read More