The Yeshiva University Museum is a teaching museum and the cultural arm of
Yeshiva University
Yeshiva University is a private Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City.["About YU]
on the Yeshiva Universit ...
. Along with the
American Jewish Historical Society
The American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS) was founded in 1892 with the mission to foster awareness and appreciation of American Jewish history and to serve as a national scholarly resource for research through the collection, preservation and ...
, the
American Sephardi Federation
The American Sephardi Federation, a founding member of the Center for Jewish History, is a non-profit
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit ...
, the
Leo Baeck Institute, New York
The Leo Baeck Institute New York (LBI) is a research institute in New York City dedicated to the study of German-Jewish history and culture, founded in 1955. It is one of three independent research centers founded by a group of German-speaking J ...
and the
YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
YIVO (Yiddish: , ) is an organization that preserves, studies, and teaches the cultural history of Jewish life throughout Eastern Europe, Germany, and Russia as well as orthography, lexicography, and other studies related to Yiddish. (The word ' ...
, it is a member organization of the
Center for Jewish History
The Center for Jewish History is a partnership of five Jewish history, scholarship, and art organizations in New York City: American Jewish Historical Society, American Sephardi Federation, Leo Baeck Institute New York, Yeshiva University Museum, ...
, a
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
affiliate located in New York’s
Chelsea
Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to:
Places Australia
* Chelsea, Victoria
Canada
* Chelsea, Nova Scotia
* Chelsea, Quebec
United Kingdom
* Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames
** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
neighborhood.
History and mission
The museum was founded in 1973. Its mission is to celebrate the culturally diverse intellectual and artistic achievements of 3,000 years of Jewish experience. The museum aims to provide a window into Jewish culture around the world and throughout history through multi-disciplinary exhibitions and publications. Following the retirement of Sylvia A. Herskowitz, Dr. Jacob Wisse was appointed the museum’s director on February 26, 2009.
Collection
The museum’s collection of more than 8,000 artifacts includes fine and folk art, ethnographic and archaeological artifacts, clothing and textiles,
Jewish ceremonial art
Jewish ceremonial art, also known as Judaica (), refers to an array of objects used by Jews for ritual purposes. Because enhancing a mitzvah by performing it with an especially beautiful object is considered a praiseworthy way of honoring God's ...
objects, documents, books, and manuscripts.
Highlights of the collection include:
* Archaeological artifacts dating from the
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
to
Late Antiquity
Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...
* Historic illuminated manuscripts such as one from 1478 recording the
Simon of Trent
Simon of Trent (german: Simon von Trient, also known as Simon Unverdorben (meaning Simon Immaculate in German); it, Simonino di Trento), also known as Simeon (1472–1475), was a boy from the city of Trent (now Trento in northern Italy), in the ...
blood libel
Blood libel or ritual murder libel (also blood accusation) is an antisemitic canardTurvey, Brent E. ''Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis'', Academic Press, 2008, p. 3. "Blood libel: An accusation of ritual mur ...
trial
*
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
's handwritten letter of 1818 affirming religious freedom and denouncing
anti-Semitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
* The
Torah
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...
scroll and
tefillin
Tefillin (; Modern Hebrew language, Israeli Hebrew: / ; Ashkenazim, Ashkenazic pronunciation: ), or phylacteries, are a set of small black leather boxes with leather straps containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah. Te ...
purported to belong to the
Baal Shem Tov
Israel ben Eliezer (1698 – 22 May 1760), known as the Baal Shem Tov ( he, בעל שם טוב, ) or as the Besht, was a Jewish mystic and healer who is regarded as the founder of Hasidic Judaism. "Besht" is the acronym for Baal Shem Tov, which ...
, founder of the
Hasidic
Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contem ...
movement
* A
model
A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure.
Models c ...
of
Herod's Temple
The Second Temple (, , ), later known as Herod's Temple, was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem between and 70 CE. It replaced Solomon's Temple, which had been built at the same location in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited ...
by
Leen Ritmeyer Leen Ritmeyer (b. 1945) is a Dutch-born archaeological architect who currently lives and works in Wales, after having spent 22 years (1967–89) in Jerusalem.
Career
Ritmeyer holds an M.A. in Conservation Studies from the Institute of Advanced Arc ...
Yeshiva University Museum’s holdings embrace several significant collections of Jewish art and material culture, including:
* Models of historic
synagogues
A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...
commissioned for the museum’s founding
* Meyerhoff Collection of Early Israeli Art
* Jean Moldovan Collection of Jewish
Children’s book
Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader.
Children's ...
s
*
Raphael Patai
Raphael Patai (Hebrew רפאל פטאי; November 22, 1910 − July 20, 1996), born Ervin György Patai, was a Hungarian-Jewish ethnographer, historian, Orientalist and anthropologist.
Family background
Patai was born in Budapest, Austria-Hu ...
Amulet Collection
*
Max Stern Collection of Judaica
* "Aishet Hayil: Woman of Valor" from the
Book of Proverbs
The Book of Proverbs ( he, מִשְלֵי, , "Proverbs (of Solomon)") is a book in the third section (called Ketuvim) of the Hebrew Bible and a book of the Christian Old Testament. When translated into Greek and Latin, the title took on different ...
by
Siri Berg
Siri Berg (September 14, 1921 – April 8, 2020) was a Swedish-born American abstract artist and teacher. Berg's work is included in the permanent collection of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, as well as the National Museum of American Jewish ...
Facilities and programs
The museum consists of four galleries, an exhibition arcade, an outdoor sculpture garden, a docent lounge, a children’s workshop room, and a suite of offices. Other Center for Jewish History facilities include a 250-seat handicapped-accessible auditorium and projection room, meeting rooms, a lunchroom, and a
kosher
(also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...
café.
The museum produces two types of exhibitions, usually shown concurrently: one examining a Jewish community or historic event, and the other featuring contemporary artists working on Jewish themes. The museum occasionally presents traveling exhibitions. Other offerings include family craft workshops, lectures, films, concerts, and multilingual exhibition tours in English, Hebrew, Spanish, Russian, and Yiddish.
The Yeshiva University Museum’s outreach programs work with New York City public schools to provide students with art education and teachers with professional development. The New York State Council on the Arts, Project Arts of the
New York City Board of Education, and the bilingual education program Title VII support these programs. A founding member of the Council of American Jewish Museums, Yeshiva University Museum plays a leading role in encouraging the growth of emerging museums and in developing conservation and preservation techniques for all Jewish museums.
Awards
* 1981:
National Jewish Book Award
The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1944, is an organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature.[List of university art museums and galleries in New York State
This is a list of university art museums and galleries in New York State.
See also
* University art museums and galleries in the United States
* List of museums in New York (state)
* List of nature centers in New York
* List of State Universi ...]
References
External links
Yeshiva University MuseumCenter for Jewish HistoryCouncil of American Jewish Museums
{{Authority control
1973 establishments in New York City
Art museums and galleries in New York City
Chelsea, Manhattan
Jewish museums in New York City
Jews and Judaism in Manhattan
Museums established in 1973
Museums in Manhattan
Religious museums in New York (state)
Yeshiva University
Smithsonian Institution affiliates
University art museums and galleries in New York City
History museums in New York City