November - December 6 0 0 15 West 16th Street - New York - NY - 10011 2 Phone 212.294.8301 | Fax 212.294.8302 | www.cjh.org Biblical BY Species MICHELE OKA DONER THE CENTER FOR JEWISH HISTORY HAS EMERGED FROM A VISION OF A UNIQUE CENTRAL RESOURCE FOR THE CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL LEGACY OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE. THE CENTER EMBODIES THE PARTNERSHIP OF FIVE MAJOR INSTITUTIONS OF JEWISH SCHOLARSHIP, HISTORY AND ART: AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY, AMERICAN SEPHARDI FEDERATION, LEO BAECK INSTITUTE, YESHIVA UNIVERSITY MUSEUM AND YIVO INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH RESEARCH. THE CENTER SERVES THE WORLDWIDE ACADEMIC AND GENERAL COMMUNITIES WITH COMBINED HOLDINGS OF APPROXIMATELY 100 MILLION ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTS, A HALF MILLION BOOKS AND THOUSANDS OF PHOTOGRAPHS, ARTIFACTS, PAINTINGS AND TEXTILES - THE LARGEST REPOSITORY OUTSIDE OF ISRAEL DOCUMENTING THE JEWISH EXPERIENCE. THE CENTERʼS EXTENSIVE PROGRAM OF EXHIBITIONS, CULTURAL EVENTS AND INTELLECTUAL GATHERINGS WILL INTEREST ALL WHO WISH TO EXPLORE THE RICHNESS OF THE JEWISH PAST AND THE PROMISE OF THE JEWISH FUTURE. PHONE 212.294.8301 - FAX 212.294.8302 - WWW.CJH.ORG AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY Founded in 1892, the American Jewish Historical Society’s archival holdings include 20 million documents, 50,000 books, paintings and other objects that bear witness to the remarkable con- tributions of the American Jewish community to life in the Americas from the 16th century to the present. Among the treasures of this heritage are the first American book published in Hebrew and the handwritten original of Emma Lazarus’ The New Colossus, which graces the Statue of Liberty. PHONE 212.294.6160 - FAX 212.294.6161 - WWW.AJHS.ORG AMERICAN SEPHARDI FEDERATION Founded in 1973, American Sephardi Federation joined with Sephardic House to promote and preserve the spiritual, historical and cultural traditions of all Sephardic communities to assure their place as an integral part of Jewish heritage. Its activities include a Sephardic Library and Archives, exhibitions, educational and cultural programs, publications, The Sephardi Report, The Sephardic Film Festival and a scholarship fund for Sephardic scholars. PHONE 212.294.8350 - FAX 212.294.8348 - WWW.AMERICANSEPHARDIFEDERATION.ORG LEO BAECK INSTITUTE Leo Baeck Institute is the single most important source for documenting the vibrant life of German-speaking Jewry spanning several hundred years. The Leo Baeck Institute’s library and archives offer rare collections of periodicals from the 19th and 20th Centuries, as well as private letters, public documents and thousands of memoirs dating back centuries. PHONE 212.744.6400 - FAX 212.988.1305 - WWW.LBI.ORG YESHIVA UNIVERSITY MUSEUM Founded in 1973, Yeshiva University Museum is recognized as an international museum known for its innovative interdisciplinary exhibitions on Jewish life past and present, and its creative interpretations of Jewish history and culture for audiences of all ages. Its vast collections represent over 2,000 years of Jewish history from the Bronze Age to the present. PHONE 212.294.8330 - FAX 212.294.8335 - WWW.YUMUSEUM.ORG YIVO INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH RESEARCH Founded in 1925 in Vilna, Poland, to collect the documents and records of hundreds of Jewish communities in Eastern Europe, YIVO remains the preeminent research institute and academic centre dedicated to Eastern European Jewish studies, Yiddish language and literature, and the American Jewish immigrant experience. Its collections include more than 22 million documents, 350,000 books and 200,000 photographs, many one of a kind. PHONE 212.246.6080 - FAX 212.292.1892 - WWW.YIVO.ORG COVER IMAGE East side Hebrew School, 43 and 29 Attorney Street, New York, 3.17.1933 Sign: East Side Talmud Torah organized by Rabbi Abraham Beiman Photographers: J.B. Lightman and A.S. Simon © Graduate School for Jewish Social Work Records - American Jewish Historical Society New Exhibitions Blavatnik Archive: Words and Memories of the Russian Front THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2006 •MAIN LOBBY The Blavatnik Archive and the Center for Jewish History present this exhibit which commemorates the tremendous efforts of Russian Jewish soldiers from the Red Army, whose valor in 1941-1945 contributed to the end of the Great Patriotic War and WWII. The selected collection of surviving personal letters, journals and memorabilia, is an invaluable historical account, unedited and un- distorted by official record. The storytellers are not famous, yet it is their crum- pled 60-year-old pieces of paper and personal stories that serve as a window © The Blavatnik Archive into people’s heroism and as a testament to the truth. THE BLAVATNIK ARCHIVE AND CENTER FOR JEWISH HISTORY By the Rivers of Babylon: Photographs from the London Jewish Museum NOVEMBER 2-15, 2006 •THE CONSTANTINER GALLERY A photographic and textual exploration of the history of the Iraqi Jewish community, from its ancient roots following the exile to Babylon 2,600 years ago, through to the present day. Baghdad Revisited: Iraqi Jewish Art and Artifacts from Private Collections © The Jewish Museum - London OPENING NOVEMBER 2, 2006 •LEON LEVY / ASF GALLERY Ritual objects, memorabilia, photographs and documents depicting the Iraqi Jewish heritage as it is preserved and perpetuated in the Diaspora. AMERICAN SEPHARDI FEDERATION The Story of Joseph: Unveiling the Text OPENING NOVEMBER 19, 2006 •SECOND FLOOR GALLERY 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 se- ries 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.” YESHIVA UNIVERSITY MUSEUM CENTER FOR JEWISH HISTORY | NOV – DEC 2OO6 Current Exhibitions Erwin Piscator: Theatre in Exile in New York and Beyond THROUGH MID-DECEMBER 2006 KATHERINE AND CLIFFORD H. GOLDSMITH / LBI GALLERY A look at Erwin Piscator’s impact on American theater. Piscator developed the Epic Theater in Weimar Berlin together with playwright Bertold Brecht. Piscator’s productions used lecture, montage and multimedia, and presented political and social issues beyond the emotional and aesthetic dimensions of a play. In 1939, he brought these methods to America as director of both the Dramatic Workshop at The New School and the Studio Theater in New York City. LEO BAECK INSTITUTE Erwin Piscator, Berlin, September 1927 Photo montage: Sasha Stone - Courtesy of Lahr von Leïtis Archive Resistance and Memory in Belgium: 1940-1945, Images Past and Present THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2006 •BETTY & WALTER L. POPPER GALLERY This documentary exhibition presents large-scale digital photographs, wartime images, contemporary portraits and personal testimonies of 27 courageous men and women (the Resisters) who, more than 60 years ago, actively resisted Nazi occupation in their small country, Belgium [Based on research by Dr. Anne Grif- fin / Photography by Jean-Marc Gourdon] YESHIVA UNIVERSITY MUSEUM Photo: Andrée Geulen, rue Neuve, Brussels, May 1944 Courtesy of Yeshiva University Museum Spinoza in the Yiddish Mind THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2006 •SELMA L. BATKIN MEZZANINE CASE The philosopher Baruch Spinoza, long ignored by Jews, was rediscovered in mid-19th century by Yiddish-speaking Jewry, and became a symbol of Jew- ish secularism. Many Yiddish and Hebrew writers from Eastern Europe studied, translated or commented on his works. This exhibit, on the 350th anniversary of the famous kheyrem (excommunication), displays the Yiddish world’s intense interest in the rationalist from Amsterdam. YIVO INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH RESEARCH Spinoza, painting by Isaac Lichtenstein - Courtesy of YIVO Institute for Jewish Research Library S E P – O C T 2 O O 6 | CENTER FOR JEWISH HISTORY Current Exhibitions The Holocaust in the Paintings of Valentin Lustig THROUGH JANUARY 14, 2007 •WINNICK GALLERY The postwar child of East European Holocaust survivors, Lustig has created sym- bolic scenarios of this traumatic period of history, using his fertile imagination in developing his own iconography consisting of people, animals, landscapes, still-lives, architecture - all real or imaginary, in a Surrealist style. YESHIVA UNIVERSITY MUSEUM Cautious Approach to the Monuments oil on canvas, 2OO3, Collection of Edith and Egon Balas At the Altar of Her Memories: Video Installation by Tova Beck-Friedman, Puppets by Bracha Ghilai THROUGH JANUARY 14, 2007 •WINNICK GALLERY An installation of hand-made puppets by Bracha Ghilai, who, at the age of sev- enteen, following liberation from Bergen-Belsen, came to Israel to start her life over, establishing a puppet theater. © TBF Studio YESHIVA UNIVERSITY MUSEUM Feminine Principals: Works in Iron, Fiber and Glass Orna Ben-Ami • Georgette Benisty • Saara Gallin THROUGH JANUARY 14, 2007 •ROSENBERG GALLERY This exhibition examines how the artists’ works reflect the inherent qualities of their chosen media (the permanence and rigidity of iron; the richness and femi- ninity of textiles; the fragility and luminescence of glass) and the commonalities based on the artists’ shared experiences as women and Jews. YESHIVA UNIVERSITY MUSEUM Fiber sculpture, 2OO5 © Georgette Benisty Iron Sculpture by Orna Ben-Ami THROUGH JANUARY 14, 2007 •SCULPTURE GARDEN This Israeli artist creates solidly rooted sculptures based on her childhood, linking the per- sonal with the collective