reviews 107

The Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Wing for Jewish Art and Life, the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.

All Roads Lead to Jerusalem entire Jewish heritage, as it portrays all aspects of life, and does not exclude the books as merely an The renewed Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Wing artifact. for Jewish Art and Life at the Israel Museum opens The exhibition Holidays and Days of Remembrance with a circular motif symbolizing three stages of displays two short videos, screened back to back, life. The permanent exhibition, set inside a round, one relating to Memorial Day and the second to enclosed glass cabin, is titled The Rhythm of Life: Birth, Independence Day. Since the eve of Independence Marriage, Death. The objects on display relate to these Day is celebrated just minutes after Memorial Day life stages: baby clothing, a circumcision knife, ritual is over, the videos’ display is very symbolic. They are wedding jewelry, and a glass for a burial society’s physically and visually connected, as are these days annual banquet. In order to see the whole exhibi- in the Israeli consciousness. Visible to the visitor, tion, the visitor must enter the glass cabin, which without the need to enter a specific room in order provides a quick glance into these three aspects of to view the film, Yael Bartana’s movie is projected, life, common not only to Jews, but to all human entitled “Trembling Time” dedicated to Memorial cultures. While observing an object from one stage Days. On the other side of the wall, the movie of life, the visitor may simultaneously see, on the “Sacrifice”, made by Doron Solomons in 2010, other side, objects from another stage of life. In this portrays clips of Independence Day films from the way, the transparent enclosed space acts as a mirror past six decades. It provides the visitor a quick glance of the intersecting stages of human life. at this day’s customs, mainly since it is located in a In the exhibition Illuminating the Script: Hebrew prominent location and thus one must pass it when Manuscripts, an explanatory video chronicles the his- observing the exhibition. Though I am not sure a tory of the production of illuminated manuscripts. non-Israeli would relate to the images portrayed, The manuscripts are displayed in an oval presen- it is a good decision to include videos along with tation, portraying various genres of manuscripts historical objects as it provides a more modern view from Persia, Ashkenaz, Spain, and Italy. The text of Jewish life and a sense of continuity. accompanying each manuscript is concise and to The exhibition called The Synagogue Route: Holiness the point, but explanations about the portrayed and Beauty, is located next to the previously discussed openings of the manuscripts’ page are lacking. Such exhibition, displaying Torah mantles, Torah finials, explanations would be important not only in terms of Torah crowns, Torah shields, and Torah ark curtains their didactic value, but also as a mean of providing from many countries dating from the sixteenth to the viewers with a sense of the thought invested in each twentieth centuries. It is too bad that the explanation of the illuminated manuscripts. of the part of this exhibition called “Central Asia” In the old exhibition, all the manuscripts were is misplaced. It appears on the side wall displaying gathered together in a single space; the novelty of the video related to “Memorial Days” and not next the renewed wing lies mainly in dividing the manu- to the objects. scripts according to themes. Thus, walking along The Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Wing for a wall displaying an open Torah scroll, the visitor Jewish Art and Life contains four synagogue interiors, arrives at the main Judaica exhibition hall where he positioned one after the other as three of them observes several showcases containing manuscripts. already were part of the former exhibition and the The space is divided into three sections display- fourth, and larger synagogue, from Suriname, is a ing three exhibits: Sabbath and Pilgrimage Festivals, new addition. The Vittorio Veneto synagogue from Holidays and Days of Remembrance, and Feasts and northern Italy (near Venice) was built around 1700 Miracles. Here there is a wide variety of liturgi- and brought to the Israel Museum in 1965. Upon cal objects along with objects from everyday life entering its interior, one hears a chazzan (cantor) from a broad range of countries and time periods. chanting in the Italian style. It is a Baroque syna- Displaying the manuscripts next to the liturgical gogue and the bimah (reader’s platform) is placed at objects provides a greater understanding of the the western side, next to the entrance, while on the

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2011 IMAGES 5 Also available online – brill.nl/ima DOI: 10.1163/187180011X604472 108 reviews eastern wall the Torah ark stands, decorated with is located opposite the Torah ark, known by Spanish wood carvings covered in gold. In the past, visitors Jews as heikhal. A variety of liturgical objects are also could ascend the stairs to the women’s section on displayed in the synagogue. The light in the interior the upper floor and view the interior from above, is the first thing that strikes the visitor. The curators but this section is currently closed to the public. This went out of their way to inspire the feeling of the denies the visitor both the possibility of experiencing tropical country where the synagogue was originally the women’s point of view in the synagogue and the situated. They succeeded not only by making a visual opportunity to observe the interior from above. This impression of warm, sunny weather, but also by is a pity indeed, since of the four synagogues it is bringing in white sand that originally covered the the only one with optional access to the women’s entire floor and symbolizes the exile in the Diaspora section. (visitors walk on a wooden platform). The Horb synagogue from Horb am Main (near All four synagogues present to the visitor the Bamberg), an early eighteenth-century wooden richness of Jewish culture around the world, and structure, was painted by Eliezer Sussman of Brody they portray the complexity of sacred spaces. The in 1735 and arrived at the Israel Museum in 1968. purchase of the last synagogue adds another aspect The synagogue’s interior is set inside a niche in the of conserving Jewish heritage, as the Israel Museum wall in a way quite similar to the way in which the displays Diaspora synagogues which might otherwise Torah ark is set in a niche on the synagogue’s eastern have been lost forever due to lack of interest in their wall (the bimah is not displayed). The entire ceiling original location. Because the entire synagogue’s is decorated with hunting scenes and animals twist- interior is displayed, the visitor does not merely ing around vine branches on a green background. observe museum artifacts, but rather feels as if she The High Holy Days’ prayer Avinu Malkeinu (“Our were traveling through time and space. Father, Our King”) plays in the background. It is The Feasts and Miracles exhibition is perhaps the very disappointing that the information about the most impressive change made in the renewed Wing synagogue is extremely difficult to read due to the for Jewish Art and Life. Most of the objects por- regrettable combination of the dark interior and trayed are Chanukah lamps and, as appropriate to grey script written on a black wall. the theme, are shown in an extremely well-lit hall. The Kadavumbagam synagogue from Cochin, in The lamps are all displayed on two walls in sepa- southern India, was constructed between 1539 and rate showcases containing up to three lamps each, 1544 and arrived at the Israel Museum in 1991. according to their countries of origin. This display There are two possible entrances into the synagogue, is a vast improvement on the former one, and the one on its eastern side, through which the visitor objects now receive the respect they deserve. may pass after following a small hall leading from In the section Costume and Jewelry: A Matter of the Italian synagogue, and the other from the main Identity, the visitor may observe and browse the south gate, on the way from the German synagogue. showcases that display different articles of clothing The synagogue’s orientation was northwestern, from Jewish communities around the world. Along towards Jerusalem, and its unique feature is that the walls is a collection of jewelry from all over the it has two reader’s platforms, one set on the upper world, and the last showcase of the exhibition dis- floor (in the women’s section), and a main one for plays jewelry made in the early twentieth century in the Torah reading, set in the center. As in the other Jerusalem at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. This two synagogues, here too the visitor hears a prayer, is an ideal choice, and makes for a smooth transi- this time in the Cochin tradition. On the southern tion to the next exhibition hall of artifacts from wall a video (in English) tells the story of the Cochin Bezalel, displayed in an open hall as a crossroad community and how this synagogue was brought to between the Israeli art wing and nineteenth-century the Israel Museum. European art. Thus, the display’s location reflects The Tzedek ve-Shalom Synagogue, a traditional and highlights these artifacts as representative of Spanish and Portuguese synagogue from Paramaribo, a mixture of Israeli and European art styles. This Suriname, was founded in 1736 and arrived at the display could be understood as a tribute made by the Israel Museum in 2010. The tevah (reader’s platform) Israel Museum to Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design