Yeshiva University Museum (NYC)

DANCE! SING! STUDY? - SHAVUOT IS ALMOST HERE!

So what are you going to do to celebrate the anniversary of when the Jews received the Torah at Mount Sinai? Study Torah until dawn? Eat bagels, blintzes, and cheesecake? Maybe dance with a tambourine? All of those are just fine for Shavuot, the holiday that marks the day (THE DAY!?!?!) when the Jews received the Torah — the 5 Books of Moses.

As for this image, it’s perhaps a bit earlier in the story. Miriam’s Song occurs just after the Jews escaping Egypt crossed the divinely-split Red Sea. Miriam, seen here holding a tambourine, is leading the women of the group in singing and dancing to celebrate their the Hebrews’ first moments of freedom.

You may ask, when did they receive the Torah? A few pages later.

Miriam’s Song by Samuel Hirszenberg
Poland?/Jerusalem? YU Museum (1975.021)

1 month ago 13 notes View high resolution

DID YOU COUNT DOWN TO CHEESECAKE? …Like you need an excuse…

Remember that a calendar like this can both help you to count the omer and teach you some Hebrew.

This Hebrew calendar from 1939 was made for Wolozin’s of Eldridge Street New York& Philadelphia. In addition to the pages of the months there are pictures of Torah Arc curtains and Torah ornaments. This Hebrew calendar would have been very helpful for the every day lives of Jews in New York. When comparing this calendar to the Jewish calendars of today, ours are not so different. This calendar lists all of the holidays and fast days and the times that the Sabbath starts and ends, as well as the days that are to be counted for the omer. With the omer half over, we can now count down to the amazing cheese cakes we will eat on Shavuot. Traditionally, dairy is served on Shavuot. There are many reasons, but the one that stands out to me is that before the Israelites received the Torah they were not obliged to keep kosher or perform ritual slaughter of animals. After the Israelites received the Torah on Shavuot there meat dishes had to be made kosher so they opted for dairy food. We eat dairy today in order to remember this event. Use a calendar, like this one, in order to remember how many days until all of the dairy delights!

Calendar, 1939. Collection of Yeshiva University Museum (2006.302)

1 year ago 11 notes View high resolution

CAN YOU SEE IT? LOOK AT THE TORAH ON SHEVUOT AND REMEMBER MT SINAI LIKE IT’S GOING OUT OF STYLE!

As we count down to Shavuot (also known as the Festival of Weeks), this postcard reminds me of the importance of the Torah in Judaism. As the person lifts the Torah up into the air for all to see (also known as Hagba), it is as though the Torah is being given for the first time on the first Shavuot at Mount Sinai. This postcard, from the 20^th century, was created by Paul Gruedel in Frankfort. It shows the interior of a synagogue with a focus on the bimah (the elevated platform from which the Torah is read). From the bimah, the person lifting the Torah makes sure that everyone can see, even the smallest of children. The title on the postcard reads Aufheben der Tora or picked up the Torah, which, of course, is a fitting title. For all of you synagogue-goers out there, make sure to pay attention to the lifting of the Torah and remember that Hagba has a long tradition behind it.

Postcard, 20th Century. Gift from Rachayl David. Collection of Yeshiva University (1996.171)

1 year ago 13 notes View high resolution

GIVING AND RECEIVING

Shavuot is a time to remember when the Israelites stood at the base of Mount Sinai and this is a little reminder. This Torah shield, from 1826/1827, is a representation of the tablets on which the Ten Commandments are inscribed. It would have been hung around the top of a Torah, thus the reason for the metal chain which extends from the top of the tablets.

Historically, the giving of the Torah happened at Mount Sinai on Shavuot and so it is a time to celebrate. For this reason, Shavuot is also called Hag Matan Torateinu (the Festival of the Giving of the Torah).

Also known as the Festival of Weeks, Shavuot is one of the three major festivals when the Israelites would have gone to Jerusalem to visit the Temple (the other two are Passover and Sukkot). Shavuot has both agricultural significance and historical significance. In terms of Shavuot’s agricultural significance, it was the time to bring the first fruits of the harvest to the Temple. Thus Shavuot is also called Hag ha-Bikkurim (the Festival of the First Fruit).

It is important to remember that Shavuot is called the “giving” of the Torah, rather then the “receiving” of the Torah. The sages explain that the first time the Torah was “given”. After that moment of “giving”, the Torah is constantly being “received” every single day. That is why the use of the term “giving” is key to understanding the holiday of Shavuot.

Torah Sheild, 1826/1827. Collection of Yeshiva University (1996.298).

1 year ago 26 notes View high resolution

NEW YUM VIDEO: STEPS CLOSER TO PRAGUE - MARK PODWAL

In this video companion to an exhibition currently at Yeshiva University Museum, Artist Mark Podwal discusses his artistic engagement with Jewish Prague, and his most recent and ambitious project to design new textiles for the famed Altneuschul. The video was produced in conjunction with the exhibition at Yeshiva University Museum, Old and the New: Mark Podwal’s Textiles for the Altneuschul
(November 27, 2011 - January 15, 2012 — preview week starts November 24th)

1 year ago 12 notes

YUM’S PAGE FOR ‘OLD AND THE NEW: MARK PODWAL’S TEXTILES FOR THE ALTNEUSCHUL IN PRAGUE’ IS NOW LIVE

You may wonder where we’ve been. Answer: Installing the soon-to-open elegant exhibition on new textiles just made for the oldest operating synagogue in the world. Heard of the Golem? Yeah, it’s in there. Heard of 700 years old? Yep, this synagogue is that old.

This image is one of several murals that the artist drew on the gallery walls. Truly spectacular.

The exhibition opens November 27th, but you can get a special sneak peak starting November 20th. Check out the show page here: http://yumuseum.tumblr.com/OldandNew

1 year ago 11 notes

DON’T BE A WIMP(EL), IT’S A FREILACH! - JUNE IS WEDDING MONTH!

Detail of a wimpel showing a bride and groom under the huppah. A wimpel is a special piece of decorated fabric used to ‘bind’ a Torah scroll—that is, it wraps around the scroll during storage to keep it from rolling or unraveling. Many Jews will decorate their own wimpels either around the time of their Bar/Bat Mitzvah’s, or they might receive them from their parents shortly after their births. As in tthis example, wimpels typically depict life-cycle events.

Germany, 1753. Linen, embroidered with silk. Collection of Yeshiva University Museum (1983.88) Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ludwig Jesselson.

2 years ago 3 notes View high resolution

I'VE RARELY METAPHOR I DIDN'T LIKE - A COMIC TORAH REVIEWED

What do we gain from a comic version of the Torah? Chuckle-worthy insight into the character of the various players in the story? But, what might we lose? Perhaps as a sense of the gravitas of the events when the very characters become shrouded in snarky visual metaphor? Eitan Novick offers an interesting take on The Tribe Vibe in the article:

The People of the Comic Book

A vibrant take on the Bible breaths new life into the text, but do its depictions deride the Torah?

—From the review (click on the link for the whole thing)

“While some may oppose the depiction of Isaac as an oversized, hairy, diaper bound infant, the image is somewhat in line with the parental pampering he receives at age 37. Jacob as a sly and slick man with a pencil mustache and snazzy gray suit seems appropriate for his famous lentil soup sale. And the manifestation of Israel as a curvaceous blond named Honey “The Land” Milk and offers an interpretation of the dispute over that land, which, whether the arguments are religious or political (both male-dominated fields), can often feel like a fight between suitors over their intended.”

2 years ago 3 notes

SHEVUOT? DON’T MIND IF I DO!

This lovely papercut is a decoration for celebrating Shevuot, the holiday marking the moment when the Jews received the Torah and Divine Legal prescriptions. It’s also a holiday when you’re invited to stay up all night studying Torah! Oh, and in many traditions it’s a holiday during which we eat lots of dairy. So, get ready you ovo-lacto vegetarians, because there’s possibly some cheesecake, blintzes, and cream-cheese in your future… later this week that is!

Details: Polish, including a foliage design featuring tablets, two birds, a crown, and lions.

Accession number: 1983.001, acquired in 1980 from M/M Ludwig Jesselson

2 years ago 10 notes View high resolution

CAIRO ARK DOOR — SO NICE TO SEE THIS IN THE MORNING…

Thanks letmypeopleshow!

Funny, you do look Jewish:

One day in the early 1990s, Barry Ragone, a Miami Beach dentist, spotted a wood panel in an auction-house storeroom in Fort Lauderdale. It had Hebrew writing on it, and it looked old. He bought it for $37.50. After years of research, Ragone discovered that it was a lot older than he’d thought—a thousand years old, give or take. According to experts in medieval Jewish art, it was originally the door to a Torah ark in Cairo’s Ben Ezra synagogue, where Maimonides prayed and the Geniza was housed.

At first, Ragone wanted the door to be in a Jewish institution. But after speaking with Gary Vikan, director of Baltimore’s Walters Art Museum, he changed his mind. He liked Vikan’s concept of a medieval-art gallery where Christian, Jewish, and Islamic art are commingled, showing how the cultures overlapped. And he liked the idea of a portal linking the Jewish community to the museum. For a sum that was less than half of the $1 million he believed the panel to be worth, he partially sold, partially donated it to the Walters, which acquired it in partnership with Yeshiva University Museum. The object will be featured in a show about Jewish life in medieval Egypt opening at the Walters in fall 2012 and later traveling to YUM.

The Walters is one of a number of mainstream museums that are intensifying efforts to incorporate Jewish ritual objects—everything from ancient ceremonial silver to cutting-edge Hanukah lamps— into exhibitions, collections, and programming. Read more in my story “Out of the Ghetto,” today on tabletmag.com.

2 years ago 25 notes

I'VE RARELY METAPHOR I DIDN'T LIKE - A COMIC TORAH REVIEWED

I'VE RARELY METAPHOR I DIDN'T LIKE - A COMIC TORAH REVIEWED

Yeshiva University Museum (NYC)

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