Drawn from the world-renowned collection of the Jewish Museum in New York City, this exhibition presents more than 130 Jewish ceremonial objects (Judaica) from antiquity to the present, including books, silver, and textiles. From Central Asia to North Africa and Western Europe, the works represent many parts of the world and display a diversity of Jewish cultures.
Exploring the artistic, cultural, and ritualistic significance of these objects, the exhibition illuminates how Jewish communities and artists have creatively adapted traditional forms of Judaica by utilizing a rich array of materials, styles, and techniques. The works are organized thematically in three sections: “The Art of the Synagogue: Adorning the Torah,” “A Day of Rest: The Radiance of the Sabath,” and “Beyond the Synagogue and the Home: The Light of the Hanukkah Menorah.” The Frist Art Museum’s presentation of this exhibition will coincide with Hanukkah, the eight-day festival of lights.
Beauty and Ritual provides a lens into the objects’ stories of precious ownership and often precarious survival against all odds, escaping near destruction and being salvaged under extraordinary circumstances. The exhibition invites people of all backgrounds and cultures to engage with the remarkable stories of exceptional pieces of Judaica.
Beauty and Ritual: Judaica from The Jewish Museum, New York has been organized by The Jewish Museum, New York.
Torah crown, Rhodes (?), Greece, 1859/60 (date of inscription). Silver: chased and pierced; 6 1/2 × 8 3/4 × 8 3/4 in. The Jewish Museum, New York, Purchase: Gift of Kurt Thalberg in honor of Elizabeth Cats, 1992-94. Image courtesy of The Jewish Museum, New York
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