confluence FALL 2015
An annual publication of The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life
FROM THE FACULTY DIRECTOR:
Magnes on the Move Dear Friends, It is my great pleasure to address you as the first Faculty Director of The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life. After almost one year of retirement, I was invited to assume this position and could not have been luckier. The Magnes is such an inspiring and important part of the campus. It is also an important driver of the reinvigoration of Jewish studies on the Berkeley campus---an effort I began as provost and upon which I now have an opportunity to build in leading The Magnes and in collaborating with the recently founded Center for Jewish Studies and the Berkeley Institute for Jewish Law and Israel Studies. In sum, I am energized and inspired by both the beauty and meaning of the Collection and its role in Jewish studies on campus. I am also inspired by the role The Magnes plays in the Bay Area community. For The Magnes is both a research collection and a community treasure. This combination makes it possible for us to leverage the extraordinary intellectual resources of the University to study and display items from the Collection and use them to teach courses to UC Berkeley undergraduates, give scholars the opportunity to make novel discoveries, and bring new ideas, insights, and excitement to the broader community through our exhibitions, lectures, events, and programs. The previous year has been marked by a surge of new programming, planned and delivered by our exceptional staff, under the leadership of our Curator, Dr. Francesco Spagnolo. You will “meet the staff” in coming pages! This issue of Confluence summarizes much of what we have done since Spring of 2014, and much of what you can look for in 2015-16. As a result of the worldwide collection efforts by founder Seymour Fromer, The Magnes has a distinctive signature: Jewish diasporas around the world. And just as the Jews have been “on the move” for thousands of years, so The Magnes is now on the move. In addition to the recent and coming programming, we are innovating in many directions:
Collection development www.magnes.org
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The Peachy and Mark Levy Family Judaica Collection of more than 300 Jewish ritual objects from the United States, Europe, North Africa, the
Middle East, and Israel was donated to The Magnes this summer. The first tranche of 127 objects has already arrived; the rest will be delivered over a five-year period. The Levy Collection is the largest in-kind donation to The Magnes Collection in its more than fifty-year history. Our special thanks to Barry Cohn, Chair of the Board of The Magnes Museum Foundation, who had the connection, idea, and devotion that made it possible for The Magnes to become the recipient of this collection. Look for pieces of this spectacular collection in our existing exhibitions.
Collection accessibility There are many ways in which we are dedicated to making the Collection still more accessible to the local, national and international communities. We are working to expand the amount of climate-controlled space at The Magnes that is devoted to exhibiting the Collection, including the Levy Collection. We are planning for staffled group tours for donors to The Magnes that will take you behind the scenes to see the “hidden treasures” that are not currently being exhibited. We hope to accelerate the process of digitizing the Collection, so that the entire world will have the opportunity to see images of all the objects in The Magnes online. And we are planning to video-tape our Pop-Up lecture-exhibitions and put them online for viewing by those in the community who cannot attend them on Wednesdays at Noon.
Further beautifying 2121 Allston Way Thanks to the generosity of Professor Emeritus Joan Grossman, and in memory of her late husband, Professor Gregory Grossman, we have installed in the lobby of The Magnes a gorgeous, stained-glass synagogue window that used to be on display when the Collection was housed in the Russell Street location. The window is in a “light box” that both protects the object from deterioration and brings out the beauty of the stained glass. And thanks to the generosity of Barry Cohn, we have installed in the lobby six beautiful lamps from Camp Swig that represent the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. We are also exploring the feasibility of installing in public view a magnificent, 13-foot-high Torah Ark from Kerala, India that is currently in storage.
Fundraising I am delighted to announce the wonderful news that the Helzel Family Foundation has awarded The Magnes a $500,000 unrestricted gift ($100,000/year for five years). This is a “lead gift” that provides the momentum to accelerate fund-raising for The Magnes, to create a host of programs, deliver new exhibitions, and engage more students, all part of a larger campaign encompassing the three pillars of Jewish studies at UC Berkeley. To accomplish these goals, we are ramping up our fund-raising at every level: annual giving; individual underwriting of exhibitions and initiatives; grants from foundations; and leadership gifts from friends in the community. I want you to know that The Magnes can remain “on the move” only with generous contributions from our friends and supporters. In the last section of this issue of Confluence, we list the names of those who have contributed to The Magnes between July 2014 and June 2015. We cannot thank you enough! I do hope you will favor me with your thoughts about additional ways in which The Magnes can stay “on the move.” My e-mail address is bresl@berkeley.edu. Finally, I wish to salute Dr. Alla Efimova, who directed The Magnes for its first five years within the University, and who nurtured the relationships that yielded both the Levy and Helzel donations mentioned above. Thank you, Alla! George Breslauer Faculty Director of The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life 3
New Gifts Lead Gift from the Helzel Family Foundation In June 2015, we received the exciting news that the Helzel Family Foundation had allocated to The Magnes $500,000, to be disbursed in equal increments over five years. Leo and Florence Helzel provided this gift in order to support the operating budget of The Magnes and stimulate giving from others in the community, as we put in place a set of multi-year gifts to follow upon the generous initial support provided by the Hellman, Koret, and Taube Foundations for fiscal years 2010-2015. We are grateful for the confidence shown in us, as we build upon our fundraising efforts. The Helzel’s have been loyal supporters of The Magnes since its founding in 1962. They were close friends and supporters of Seymour Fromer, who founded and built The Judah L. Magnes Museum. Subsequently, they contributed a major gift to the campaign that raised funds for the new home for The Magnes in downtown Berkeley. As a result, the reference library within the building was named the Florence Helzel Collection Study, available to scholars, students, and the public for studying firsthand the objects in the Collection. Nor have their contributions been solely financial. Florence Helzel served as one of the two founding curators of the Judah L. Magnes Museum. She worked as the print and drawings curator for 20 years, authoring several catalogues, including Narrative imagery: Artists’ portfolios and Witnesses to History: The Jewish Poster 1770-1985: A Selection from the Judah L. Magnes Museum, and Print and Drawing Collection of the Judah L. Magnes Museum. The Helzel’s were enthusiastic about The Magnes’ merger into UC Berkeley, believing that this would ensure its sustainability and would allow it to harness the expertise and energy of Berkeley faculty and students to conduct research and teaching, based on the Collection. We are grateful for the great dedication and commitment of the Helzel family to The Magnes and are honored by their trust and confidence!
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New Gifts An Unprecedented Gift: The Peachy and Mark Levy Family Judaica Collection: This year we welcome the gift of the Peachy and Mark Levy Family Judaica Collection, which represents the largest donation of objects to The Magnes since its founding in 1962, and the largest addition to our holdings since the purchase of the Siegfried S. Strauss collection in 1967. The Levy collection began in 1959, when Peachy and her husband Mark Levy (1926-2014) first traveled to Israel and acquired a Hanukkah lamp from Central Europe. From then on, the couple collected Jewish ritual objects from across the world, turning their home in Santa Monica into a “living museum.” The collection also animated an exhibition at the Skirball Cultural Center in 2009. After more than five decades, the Levy’s identified a permanent home at The Magnes for over 300 of the objects they had collected. The gift includes ritual objects for the synagogue and the Jewish home from across Europe, North Africa, Mandatory Palestine and Israel, as well as the United States, dating from the 17th through the 20th century. In the words of the late Mark Levy: “These objects are silent witnesses to times of joy and sorrow, victory and defeat. They are historic documents. They are the prisms through which we view Jewish life. These objects are all monuments—things that remind, markers that by their survival commemorate an action, a period in time, an event,. a way of life, a people—all of us.” At The Magnes, the objects in the Levy Collection will be carefully catalogued and preserved, and will animate the teaching, research, and exhibition programs that characterize our cultural offerings.
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Meet the Staff George Breslauer, PhD, Faculty Director As executive vice chancellor and provost (2006-2014) of UC Berkeley, George was instrumental in establishing the Center for Jewish Studies and in reinvigorating Jewish studies on campus. He was recalled from retirement to build upon these initiatives by serving as the first Faculty Director of The Magnes Collection, and as a member of the Executive Committee of the Center for Jewish Studies. He has been on the UC Berkeley faculty for 44 years.
Francesco Spagnolo, PhD, Curator A multidisciplinary scholar focusing on Jewish studies, music and digital media, Francesco is Curator of The Magnes Collection and a Lecturer in the Department of Music at the University of California, Berkeley. He is frequently invited to lecture at academic institutions worldwide, and publishes on a wide variety of subjects. Francesco earned his PhD at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Claudia Cohan, Director of Development Claudia Cohan is Director of Development for The Magnes, Center for Jewish Studies, and the Blum Center for Developing Economies. She has an MBA from Berkeley-Haas and has worked on campus for 14 years. Claudia is the child of Holocaust survivors and believes safeguarding Jewish culture is both a privilege and a responsibility.
Julie Franklin, Registrar As Registrar, Julie oversees the logistics of planning and implementing all collectionsrelated activities: acquisitions, lending, and exhibitions. Julie holds a Master’s degree in Museum Studies from San Francisco State University, and has worked in the arts and museum world in the Bay Area for the last twenty-five years.
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Meet the Staff Gary Handman, Public Services Coordinator / Librarian Gary Handman served UC Berkeley for 35 years as Director of the Media Resources Center, Moffitt Library before retiring in 2012. In 2010 he received the UC Berkeley Library’s Distinguished Librarian Award for his career contributions to the campus and the field of librarianship. He came out of retirement to join the staff of The Magnes as our Librarian.
Erik Nelson, Head of Administrative Services Erik joined The Magnes after years of distinguished service as Manager of the Department of Near Eastern Studies at UC Berkeley where he also managed the Doctoral Program in Jewish Studies.
Allyson Metzler, Administrative Assistant Allyson joins The Magnes after recently completing her Masters degree in Museum Studies at San Francisco State University. She brings with her significant experience working in museums and archives throughout the Bay Area.
Ernest Jolly, Preparator Ernest Jolly is a museum professional with over 15 years experience designing and installing exhibitions. He has worked for many institutions, including The Brooklyn Museum, Cantor Art Center at Stanford University and The Oakland Museum of California. He completed his MFA in Studio Art at Mills College in 2006 and has also studied at San Francisco State University and The Hungarian Academy of Art in Tihany, Hungary.
Yosef Rosen, Magnes Graduate Fellow (Fall 2015) Yosef Rosen is a doctoral candidate in Jewish Studies at UC Berkeley. His dissertation offers a new take on the emergence of Kabbalah in Spain, as told through literary forgeries, epistles, courtroom chronicles, and literary transformations in rabbinic culture. He received an MA in Jewish Thought from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and a BA in Philosophy from Yeshiva University. Confluence is published yearly by The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life. This issue was edited by George Breslauer, Francesco Spagnolo and Daniel Viragh. The issue was designed by Story House Creative at www.storyhousecreative.com.
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2014–15 Highlights Gourmet Ghettos On display: 8/28/2014 - 6/26/2015 Gourmet Ghettos: Modern Food Rituals explored the broader linkages among food, ritual, identity, and activism that inform Jewish life. Roughly one half of the exhibition was devoted to the use of food in Jewish ritual. Thus, Case A in the Warren Hellman Gallery featured silver Kiddush and Havdalah sets gifted to The Magnes in 1966 and 2002, respectively. The Charles Michael Gallery featured a festive table set for a Jewish meal. Part of the gallery showed ritual objects used during the Passover Seder. The strength of Gourmet Ghettos lay in the exhibition’s ability to explore what Jewish food traditions in the Diaspora have meant to the people practicing them. One part of the exhibition, for example, contrasted historical Jewish banquets with a modern-day exploration of the meaning of Jewish food in Israel and California. Three illustrated Esther scrolls (from Italy, Germany, and Jerusalem in the 17th, 18th, and 20th centuries, respectively) depicted various banquet scenes inspired by the Book of Esther. Gourmet Ghettos was curated by Francesco Spagnolo and India Mandelkern (Ph.D. candidate in History at Berkeley). The exhibition opened on September 10, 2014 with a gala event featuring opening remarks by George Breslauer and both curators; a presentation by Narsai David, food and wine editor at KCBS (San Francisco); and a performance by Sara Felder, a juggler and a playwright. The event was catered by Epic Bites and the wines were generously offered by Covenant Wines.
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2014–15 Highlights Modern Food Rituals: From the Communal Table to the Global Tasting Room On March 9, 2015 The Magnes hosted a roundtable discussion on religious and secular food rituals. The participants also considered how these rituals engage with growing public interest in ecology and the role of museums in facilitating collaboration in the domain of food. This roundtable discussion featured India Mandelkern, author Sue Fishkoff, artist David Gardella, educator Ariela Ronay-Jinich (Senior Farm Educator at Urban Adamah, Berkeley) and Prof. Kathleen Moran (Berkeley). Francesco Spagnolo chaired.
Hebrew Poetry and World Music at The Magnes Fall 2014 was an exciting time to be musically involved with The Magnes! We had the rare joy of hosting world-famous musician Yair Harel, who collaborated with us on numerous public performances and programs related to Hebrew poems (piyyutim). Piyyutim, chanted for centuries across the Diaspora, have been adapted to different melodies, evolving into a form of “Jewish world music” with roots in Europe, the Mediterranean, North Africa, and the Middle East. This singing tradition, a core component of synagogue practice, has also entered secular life in Israel through public performances, workshops, and performing arts festivals, and is now spreading to North America. Harel is one of the main figures behind the “Piyyut” scene that has revolutionized the face of Israeli musical culture, and is a founding member of the “Singing Communities Project” in Israel. He is the founder of the Invitation to Piyyut website and artistic director of the Jerusalem Piyyut Festival. Harel’s residency at The Magnes in the Fall Semester 2014 was sponsored by the Schusterman Visiting Israeli Artist Program of the Israel Institute. Yair Harel
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2014–15 Highlights PopUp Exhibition with Yair Harel Harel’s residency at The Magnes was inaugurated with a short lecture on October 8, 2014. He taught the noon-time lecture attendees a chant and gave a lecture about the meaning of shofar horns in the Jewish tradition.
Hebrew Poetry and World Music: Robert Alter, Yair Harel and the Tafillalt Ensemble Yair Harel was introduced to the Berkeley public at large through an evening event of poetry and song on November 13, 2014. The evening combined Harel’s music with the poetic and academic talents of Berkeley’s Professor Robert Alter in a dramatic setting that contrasted the written word with the spoken and performed lyrics of piyyutim from North Africa and the Levant.
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2014–15 Highlights Jewish Nightlife: An Evening of Celebration with Poetry and Music On December 18 the public had a second chance to experience Harel’s vibrant constellation of musical genres. The evening’s performance combined Harel’s talents with that of thirty Berkeley students and of a recently created research group entitled Piyut Bay Area. The group met weekly at The Magnes in order to research and perform piyyutim.
Jewish Songlines | JudeoSpanish and Yiddish Music and Dance with Esti KenanOfri (Israel) and Michael Alpert (United States) Our encounter with Jewish musical genres continued on March 19, 2015 with a unique dual performance by Esti Kenan-Ofri and Michael Alpert. The evening’s performance was a collaboration between two world-class interpreters of Jewish musical traditions from Central and Eastern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. Esti Kenan Ofri teaches in the Department of Music at Bar Ilan University. Michael Alpert has taught and lectured at universities worldwide, and performed internationally with Kapelye, David Krakauer, and Brave Old World.
ENJOY MUSIC FROM THE MAGNES AT YOUR HOME! › The Piyut Bay Area research project is accessible here: piyutbayarea.wordpress.com › Watch Hebrew Poetry and World Music on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72hrW5K2ah0 › Watch Yair Harel singing a piyyut with a tar drum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8hPiizRTpw › Jewish Songlines is also online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0-lX6_qvic
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The Digital Humanities at The Magnes Broadly, the term Digital Humanities refers to the use of computer-based techniques for addressing research questions about history and culture. This might include the use of online maps to study literary place names in Shakespeare, or the use of a database to codify Etruscan word forms. At The Magnes, we bring together these new methodologies with a recurring question about Jewish historical memory.
The Future of Memory: Jewish Culture in the Digital Age On display: 1/27/2015 - 12/18/2015 The Future of Memory: Jewish Culture in the Digital Age, located in the Main Gallery, provides a digital research lab where museum professionals, scholars, students, and the public can examine and discuss the meaning of memory: what should we remember, what should we forget, and who decides? Objects, books and documents are displayed, studied, digitized, and published on the web via existing and emerging platforms. The digital laboratory, created by Curator Francesco Spagnolo, features two scanning stations, an audio digitizing station, and a screen for viewing video footage. These implements are accompanied by a selection of The Magnes’ holdings that have recently been digitized. A reception and program on February 18, 2015 launched the campus’s Digital Humanities initiative and celebrated the role of The Magnes in that initiative.
NOW AVAILABLE! The Jewish World: 100 objects from the Magnes Collection Written by Alla Efimova and Francesco Spagnolo 176 pages, 100 color photographs, Skira Rizzoli Available at Amazon.com or directly through the publisher With art and cultural objects hailing from India, Spain, Yemen, Germany, Tunisia, Turkey, Morocco, China, Russia, the United States and other regions where Jews once lived or continue to live, this volume provides insight into the richness and variety of Jewish cultures. Pages from the book are also on rotating display in The Magnes' auditorium, while selected objects are on display in the Main Gallery. Our sincere thanks for sponsoring the production of this catalog goes to the David Berg Foundation, the David L. Klein, Jr. Foundation, The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation, the Koret Foundation, and Friends of the Magnes. 12
The Digital Humanities at The Magnes EVENTS Jewish Studies in the Digital Age On April 19, 2015, Jewish Studies scholars from across the Bay Area met at The Magnes to discuss how the Digital Humanities might be beneficial for research in Judaica. The event was sponsored through the Academic Consortium run by the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties. The Consortium brings together faculty and graduate students in Jewish Studies from throughout Northern California. The presenters were Rachel Deblinger (UC Santa Cruz); Ari Y. Kelman (Stanford University), and Francesco Spagnolo. The discussion was moderated by Nathaniel Deutsch (UC Santa Cruz).
Accessing The Magnes Collection Digitally Did you know you can access The Magnes’ collections online anytime, anywhere? Here are four of the most common ways: › The object catalogue can be accessed on magnesalm.org. The database records include information on the provenance of each item and often contain close-up, professional photographs. › The Collection’s Flickr page, located at flickr.com/ magnesmuseum showcases some of our most visually appealing holdings. Browse the Collection at your leisure, from home, and explore some of our recently-digitized archival holdings, photographs, textiles and ritual objects. › Our recently-inaugurated Findery platform, at findery.com/magnes allows you to explore some of our objects in a map-based setting. Recent digitization projects have included mapping The Magnes’ collection of original Yiddish imprints from Los Angeles as well as postcards from the world over. › Listen to a portion of The Magnes’s sound holdings on PopUp Archive, at www.popuparchive.com/ collections/1691. PopUp Archive is an online tool that automatically transcribes recorded, spoken text. It makes searching audio files easy and streamlined. Among its many holdings, the audio collection includes audio tapes of Israeli leaders, who spoke in the 1950s and 1960s at gala events organized in San Francisco by the Israel Bonds Development Corporation of America. These have been digitized and can be searched through PopUp Archive.
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2014–15 Highlights Literary Minds, Soviet Jewish Writers portrayed by Matvey Vaisberg On display: 8/28/2014 to 12/19/2014 In 2014, The Magnes acquired twelve works by the Ukrainian artist, Matvey Vaisberg, including portraits of eight Russian Jewish authors, such as Osip Mandelstam and Boris Pasternak. These unusual works, painted on cardboard in the late 1980s, and based on archival photographic sources, reclaimed a suppressed cultural heritage on the eve of the fall of the Soviet Union. The exhibition also included biographical profiles of the authors and poignant literary excerpts.
Did you know you could access all of Vaisberg’s portraits online? Visit http://bit.do/matvey-vaisberg
The Secret Language of Flowers On display: 1/27/2015 to 6/26/2015 In 1984, The Magnes acquired a portfolio of botanical drawings by Shmuel (Samuel) Lerner (1890-1981), who, in 1948-49, traveled across the new country of Israel, documenting his trip by drawing the plants and flowers he encountered, with precise annotations as to the dates and places where the plants had been found. Lerner’s annotations also included the scientific names of the plants he portrayed, in Latin, along with the corresponding Hebrew terms. This linguistic effort was based on the use of existing Hebrew terms, on the creation of new ones, and on the phonetic adaptation of botanical names from Latin or English into Hebrew.
Learn more about Shmuel Lerner here: http://bit.do/shmuel-lerner
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2014–15 Highlights
EVENTS PopUp Exhibition Series (September 2014–May 2015) A Constellation of Conversations: PopUp Exhibitions at The Magnes In 2014, The Magnes launched a series of informative, “PopUp” lectures by members of the extended Bay Area academic community. The twenty-three lectures focused on objects from The Magnes Collection, bringing the eyes of a specialist to bear on their meaning. Among this year’s presenters were many Berkeley faculty members, a post-doctoral fellow, graduate students, and undergraduate researchers. Independent scholars, artists, and web developers were also involved in the series. Thus, author Frances Dinkelspiel analyzed a painting portraying members of her family, who immigrated to San Francisco from Germany in the 19th century. Visiting artist Yair Harel (Jerusalem) performed poetry for the Jewish New Year, while Harriete Estel Berman discussed the role of recycled and repurposed materials in folk art. Rabbi James Brandt of the Jewish Community Federation of the East Bay spoke during the Festival of Hanukkah. John Fox (Findery) and Anne Wootton (Popuparchive) presented on the digital platforms with which they work. Rabbi David Kasher (Kevah) explored the meanings of Biblical commentaries. Peretz Wolf-Prusan (Lehrhaus Judaica) spoke on the legacy of Helen Burke, an art instructor whose work is on permanent display at The Magnes. The series was popular with both Berkeley academics and the Jewish community. Stay tuned for the remainder of the year’s series, beginning September 2nd! (See page 20 for calendar.)
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Teaching and Research Courses at The Magnes The Magnes hosted two undergraduate courses during the 2014-15 academic year.
Jewish Nightlife (Fall 2014) Our curator, Dr. Spagnolo, taught a course on “Jewish Nightlife” that focused on three areas: the rise of Kabbalistic nocturnal rituals in the Italian ghettos in the early-modern period; the performance of Hebrew poetry in North Africa and the Middle East in the modern era; and the renaissance of piyut (Hebrew liturgical poetry) in Israel from the 1970s to the present. The course leveraged The Magnes’s holdings in liturgical and poetic manuscripts, iconographic sources and audio and video recordings. Students also conducted fieldwork at Berkeley synagogues, examining religious rituals during the holiday of Sukkot and taking notes on the melodies, texts and languages used in prayer.
Tracing Emigration and Exile: Jewish Migration in 20th Century German History (Spring 2015) This course examined Jewish migration in 20th Century German history by studying personal narratives (such as the Erdmann, Weissmann and Reichel family papers) in The Magnes archives. The course was taught by Prof. Andrea Sinn, who is the DAAD-Professor for German History at the University of California at Berkeley. Her research and teaching focus on modern European history with specialties in German, Jewish, and migration history.
Class rehearsal for the Jewish Nightlife evening celebration or the "unfinal."
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Teaching and Research URAP: Undergraduate Research at The Magnes We’re grateful to have undergraduate research apprentices help us with in-house and on-line research on The Magnes. They also assist with cataloging; fact-checking of information in museum catalogs, books, and online resources; and proof-reading of exhibition labels and web pages. Apprentices have the opportunity to work “hands-on” with primary sources from the global Jewish Diaspora, including rare objects, documents, photographs, books, manuscripts, and art works from the 16th century to our days.
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH AT THE MAGNES ONLINE All projects are directed and supervised by Dr. Francesco Spagnolo.
Living by The Book: Jewish Identity and the Everyday Power of Text. Lauren Cooper, Anna Bella Korbatov and Zoe Lewin (with Daniel Fisher) https://findery.com/magnes/notemaps/the-jewish-world Exhibition research, planning, digitization, and online dissemination for our upcoming show.
Western Yiddish Imprints Erin Faigin (with Gary Handman) Yiddish sheet music cataloging, digitization, and online dissemination https://findery.com/magnes/notemaps/western-americanyiddish-imprints
Digital companion to The Secret Language of Flowers Elena Kivnik https://findery.com/magnes/notemaps/shmuel-lerner-the-flowerworld-of-israel-1949-1950-acc-no-84111-66 Digitization and online dissemination of Bonfil’s photography collection.
Living by The Book: Jewish Identity and the Everyday Power of Text
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Teaching and Research The Magnes’s Postcard Collection Zoe Lewin https://findery.com/magnes/notemaps/postcards Cataloging, digitization, and online dissemination
Kurdish-Jewish Immigration to Israel Nadine Melamed https://www.flickr.com/photos/magnesmuseum/ sets/72157649464468644/ Cataloging, digitization, and online dissemination of the Joint Distribution Committee’s photographs.
Liptovsky-Mikulas Jewish Community Records Petra Stefanova (with Daniel Viragh) Inventorying, digitization and online dissemination of the papers of this Slovakian Jewish community.
Accession Records Management Michelle Tarbell (with Julie Franklin) Digitization and online dissemination of Yves Mozelsio’s photography and oral history collection.
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Teaching and Research Graduate Student Research The Modern Jewish Culture Working Group, created with support from UC Berkeley’s Townsend Center for the Humanities, draws on faculty and graduate students, from diverse fields of study, whose research intersects with the subject of Modern Jewish Culture. All meetings feature faculty and graduate student presentations followed by moderated discussions. Over the 2014-15 academic year, the Group discussed the following topics:. • Biblical Time in Post-Biblical Times: The Jewish Calendar, Passover, and the Sabbath
• Frontier Yiddish: Western Yiddish Americana from The Magnes
• Memories of Moroccan Jewish Life In Story and Material Culture from The Magnes
• Botanical Zionism at The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life
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This Year’s Events
Fall 2015
Public Programs
Exhibitions
September 9, 2015, 5-7pm
On view: August 27 - December 18, 2015 Living by The Book: Jewish Identity and the Everyday Power of Text Larger Than Life: Jonah and the Fish | Maftir Yonah by Mordechai Beck and David Moss The Future of Memory: Jewish Culture in the Digital Age
Fall Exhibition Opening
PopUp Exhibition Series - Wednesdays at noon. September 2, October 7, 14, 21, 28; November 4, 18; December 2, 9. Depth of Field: Sephardic Identities on Screen Tuesdays at 7pm October 6, November 3, December 1.
The Jewish World | A Book Installation (ongoing, in the Auditorium)
Larger Than Life: Jonah and the Fish
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Living by The Book: The Hebrew Bible and the Everyday Power of Text
Upcoming Events
Spring 2016 Exhibitions On view: January 26 - June 24, 2016 From Mendelssohn to Mendelssohn: Painting the German-Jewish Encounter Stages of Identity: Jewish Theater Posters from The Magnes Collection Living by The Book: The Hebrew Bible and the Everyday Power of Text The Jewish World | A Book Installation (ongoing, in the Auditorium)
From Mendelssohn to Mendolssohn: Painting the German-Jewish Encounter
Public Programs PopUp Exhibition Series - Wednesdays at noon. February 10, 17, 24; March 2, 9, 16, 30; April 6, 13, 20, 27; May 4
Depth of Field: Sephardic Identities on Screen Tuesdays at 7pm February 2; March 1; April 5.
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The Magnes Leadership Circle & Friends of The Magnes For more than half a century, The Magnes has provided access to unique resources that have allowed each generation to find its own story in the rich texts, vibrant images, and unique sounds of Jewish culture. Your support allows the collection to thrive as a treasured resource that advances research, scholarship, and community programs.
We are grateful to our many supporters, which include The Magnes Leadership Circle, a special giving category for donors who generously provide The Magnes with annual gifts of $1,000 or more.
We would be honored to have you join us at any level.
You can GIVE ONLINE at www.magnes.berkeley.edu/ support/friends or send your donation to The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, University of California, 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA 94720-6300.
T H E M AG N E S L E A D E R S H I P C I R C L E VISIONARY CIRCLE
CURATORS
Hellman Foundation
Mathilde Albers
Leo B. Helzel M.B.A. ‘68, LL.M. ‘92, P ‘68 | Florence Helzel P ‘68
Endre Balint
Helzel Family Foundation
Rita Blitt | Irwin Blitt
Koret Foundation
Denah S. Bookstein
Peachy Levy l Mark Levy
Diana J. Cohen C.Sing. ‘72 | William A. Falik
Taube Foundation For Jewish Life and Culture The Magnes Museum Foundation
PARTNER’S CIRCLE Susan S. Morris Fred Isaac
Sam Davis B.Arch. ‘69 | Joanne Cuthbertson Amy R. Friedkin | Morton Friedkin Evelyn Graetz P ‘02 | Roberto D. Graetz P ‘02 Joan D. Grossman
DIRECTOR’S CIRCLE
Adele M. Hayutin M.P.P. ‘75, Ph.D. ‘84
Congregation B’Nai Jeshurun
Lawrence B. Helzel B.A. ‘68| Rebekah S. Helzel
The David Berg Foundation
Deborah Kirshman P ‘11 | David K. Kirshman P ‘11
Walter & Elise Haas Fund
COLLECTORS Ruth Arnhold Donald Chaiken Debra Trubowitch Cohn B.A. ‘82 | Barry W. Cohn B.A. ‘82
Kenneth Kofman B.A. ‘59, J.D. ‘62 Carole S. Krumland B.A. ‘67 | Ted C. Krumland B.S. ‘66 George Leitmann Ph.D. ‘56, P ‘79 | Nancy L. Leitmann P ‘79
Jean Colen | Sanford Colen
Matthew C. Lorincz B.A. ‘90| Natasha Shulman
Herbert J. Friedman B.A. ‘59, J.D. ‘62 | Marianne Levee Friedman
Joan M. Mann B.A. ‘58, C.Mult. ‘58 | Roger A. Mann B.A. ‘58
Robert A. Goldstein J.D. ‘65 | Anna M. Mantell
Phyllis Moldaw
John & Marcia Goldman Foundation Lisa and Douglas Goldman Fund Jan H. Kessler | Randall E. Kessler Mary Ann Tonkin
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Joan Bieder
Sheila Sosnow | Richard Nagler Temple Isaiah Raymond L. Weisberg B.A. ‘50, P ‘86 Marilyn A. Weiss | Melvin J. Weiss Ilene Weinreb
FRIENDS OF THE MAGNES F R I E N D S O F T H E M AG N E S Victoria Bleiberg Zatkin B.A. ‘75 | Steven R. Zatkin B.A. ‘67, M.A. ‘69
Dorothy R. Saxe
Marc L. Dollinger B.A. ‘86 | Marci Dollinger
SCHOLARS
Helen S. Schulak Ph.D. ‘67
Sandra P. Epstein M.A. ‘74, Ph.D. ‘79 l Edwin M. Epstein M.A. ‘66
Robin L. Berry B.A. ‘76 | William W. Ringer
Valerie E. Sopher B.A. ‘74
Judith F. Broude | Samuel G. Broude
Elizabeth Spander | Arthur Spander
Helena R. Foster
Gloria Burke | Jerome S. Burke
Elaine C. Tennant
Frances Koshland Geballe B.A. ‘43, P ‘69 | Theodore H. Geballe B.S. ‘40, Ph.D. ‘50, P ‘69
Susan K. Coliver B.A. ‘76 | Robert G. Herman
Marilyn Y. Waldman | Murry J. Waldman
Carolyn B. Dundes l David M. Dundes
Vera Zatkin
CONSERVATORS Isabel R. Bordow B.A. ‘69 | Richard A. Bordow
Patricia H. Gibbs | Richard Gibbs Frances M. Greenberg P ‘75
Wendy S. Feldman B.S. ‘86 | Mark J. Feldman B.A. ‘80
Marsha Guggenheim | Ralph J. Guggenheim
Selma Forkash | Paul E. Forkash
Ruth Heller | Alfred E. Heller P ‘79, ‘82
Helena R. Foster
Susan Klee | David Stoloff
Miriam J. Gauss B.A. ‘64 | Arthur B. Gauss
Doris Marx
Lorraine Honig
Barbara C. Rosenberg | Richard M. Rosenberg
Marion R. Kramer
Barbara Goor Rothblatt B.A. ‘59, M.B.A. ‘80, P ‘88 | Sheldon Rothblatt B.A. ‘56, M.A. ‘59, Ph.D. ‘65, P ‘88
Ruth V. Meltsner C.Mult. ‘67, M.A. ‘67 | Arnold J. Meltsner M.A. ‘66, M.B.A. ‘66
Diane B. Wilsey, P ‘96
Howard K. Schachman
Names listed are for gifts of $250+ made between July 1, 2014 and June 30, 2015
Sachiko Minowa | John J. Riley Anne Packer | Lester Packer
In-Kind Donations Over the past year, The Magnes Collection has continued to grow, thanks to a number of in-kind donations. Artist Mark Podwal donated three prints, one of which was included in the exhibition, Gourmet Ghettos, and Mrs. Faina Zholudova donated original works by the Ukrainian artist, Matvey Vaisberg, exhibited in the Fall of 2014 under the title, Literary Minds. Mrs. Michelle Friend donated artwork by Yakov Agam, Karen Adelson contributed a historic National Jewish Fund Tzed aka Box, and Rebecca Weiner’s gift augmented our collection of ethnographic dolls from Israel, currently included in the exhibition, The Future of Memory. New works on paper were added to the collection thanks to Dr. Edward and Mrs. Marjorie Cahn (serigraphs by David Sharir, Yakov Agam, and Shlomo Katz), Dr. and Mrs. Lee Stone (wood engraving by Fritz Eichenberg), and Ms. Petrina Cooper (a lithography by Maurice Grossman). Ms. Lynne Wosk donated the papers of her extended family of EastEuropean immigrants to Southern California, Ms. Miriam Valesco gifted the personal papers and photographs of her late father, the virtuoso violinist Adolph Valesco (1887-1953), and Naomi Newman, Corey Fischer, Albert Greenberg, and Helen Stoltzfus, jointly donated a treasure trove of records, publicity materials, and stage masks and puppets documenting the history of Jewish Theater San Francisco (A Traveling Jewish Theater) from its inception in 1978 until 2012. All in-kind donations are now part of the permanent holdings of The Magnes, and are being catalogued by our collection staff. 23
Synagogue Window On permanent display in the lobby of The Magnes. United States, early 20th century, Leaded colored glass, vitreous paint Gift of Mrs. M. Garrett in honor of her children, Laurie Lobell Garrett, Joseph Lobell Garrett, Anthony Lobell Garrett, and Eric Lobell Garrett, for their affiliation with Congregation Beth El in Berkeley, 75.42 Installation in memory of Professor Gregory Grossman, made possible through a generous gift from his wife, Professor Emerita Joan Grossman, and the Grossman family.