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                THE TEMPLE JUDEA MUSEUM

December 31, 2011 A dear friend of the Temple Judea Museum passed away this week. Noted antiques dealer, Morris (Morrie) Finkel was a founder of this museum and guided its growth throughout many wonderful years. Morrie and his wonderful wife, Miriam were also donors to the museum of important objects. Among their many gifts is the treasure of the 1778 Lancaster Ketubbah (Jewish marriage contract). This colonial American ketubbah is one of the oldest known American Jewish marriage contracts. It is from the Jewish community in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The oldest known American ketubbah, just one year earlier than our Lancaster, is that of Haym Solomon and Rachel Franks, (1777) which is in the collection of the American Historical Society. Morrie and Miriam Finkel presented the Lancaster Ketubbah to the museum in October 1964, in honor of their son, Kenneth, becoming a Bar Mitzvah. Morrie will be sorely missed The Lancaster Ketubbah Marriage Contract Parchment Lancaster, 1778        The groom: Meyer S. Solomon        The bride: Caty (Hyah) Bush        Signed by Meyer Solomon, Mathias Bush and Joseph Simon

KI Collaborative member artist, Marlene Adler participated in a project that will be part of the upcoming conference of the Council of American Jewish Museums in Detroit in February. Artists from around the country were invited to design bracelets that celebrate Jewish identity. These bracelets will be exhibited and sold during the conference.  Click here for photos of Marlene Adler's bracelet

Exhibition: Fall 2011 WORDworks: Precious Heritage September 24, 2011 – February 5, 2012 Guest Curator: Lynne Bloom An exhibition of books, objects, photographs, ephemera, Judaica and art work from the collections of The Temple Judea Museum; Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel Archives; The Meyers Library (KI); Rabbi Lance J. Sussman, Ph.D., Labron Shuman  and significant loans. Curator's statement Selected images from the WORDworks exhibition Programs to be held on Sunday, January 22, 2012 Curatorial Conversation, Sunday February  5, 2012       The Prophetic Quest Jacob Landau Stained Glass Windows at Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel  Click here      Click here for Museum programs for 5772 (2011-2012) Link to other previous Exhibitions

Two artist members of the KI Artists’ collaborative are exhibiting in a local exhibition 

Click here for the Installation of the 'Core Values' Banners hanging in the Fineshriber Lobby

Click here for the Installation of the Torah Mantles that now grace our Ark

Click here to Read about a new way that you can help the Temple Judea Museum

Link to other previous Exhibitions

Some of the artists whose works have been exhibited recently at the
 Temple Judea Museum
 

"KI Artists’ Collaborative" - Websites

 

Temple Judea Museum
Rita Rosen Poley, Director/Curator
Karen Shain Schloss, Chair

THE TEMPLE JUDEA MUSEUM
The Temple Judea Museum was founded in 1984 to contain the merged Judaica collections of two Philadelphia – area synagogues, Temple Judea, and Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel. The museum staff includes a director/curator and an active group of volunteers. The Friends of the Museum offers tours and special events.

PERMANENT COLLECTION:
The Temple Judea Museum has as its mission the presentation of Judaica, the visual objects that signify the observances of Judaism. The mandate of the museum begins with a collection of almost 1000 objects: its preservation, growth, exhibition, and use as an educational tool. 

The museum's collection contains artifacts from countries around the world including: the United States, Italy, Germany, Poland, Russia, Egypt, Turkey, France, Hungary, Holland, England and Israel. Holdings include a fine assortment of antiquities from ancient Israel, a comprehensive textile collection, books, paintings, prints, photographs, and a variety of ephemera that complement the many precious and rare objects preserved in this collection.

A FEW HIGHLIGHTS:

• A major collection of silver ceremonial objects.
• The second oldest American ketubah (marriage contract) from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 1778.
• An embroidered Torah wimpel (binder), one of the oldest known to have survived the Holocaust, made from an infant's swaddling cloth, 1695
• A unique, contemporary Elijah's Chair, used in covenant ceremonies, commissioned by the Friends of the Museum.
• A religious commentary printed in Venice, Italy, 1574.

ACTIVITIES:
In addition to its collection and preservation activities the museum operates an annual schedule of three to four original exhibitions that are free and open to the community. These exhibitions vary widely in content and theme, but the educational content of an exhibition is always of paramount importance. Of each yearly cycle of exhibitions one is drawn exclusively from the collection. The other exhibitions extend the reach and scope of the museum beyond the limits of the collection. A recent exhibition about the Bezalel School, Israel’s first art school, included objects drawn from the Temple Judea Museum along with works borrowed from three private collections. 

Some past exhibitions have focused on the Jews of Ethiopia, Jewish soldiers in the Civil War, Israel, Jewish rituals of the life cycle, the Holocaust, comic books as an expression of Jewish experience, hand-made books, and art of the bible. Every one of our exhibitions contains a separate set of labels written especially for children, so that families visiting independently can approach the exhibition material in an interactive way. 

Lectures and tours, often drawing visitors from different religious and ethnic groups, deepen the educational value of the exhibitions. Senior, church, and school groups are among the many visitors the museum welcomes each year from our local community, Greater Philadelphia, many states of the union, and abroad. Museum volunteers conduct special tours of the synagogue’s famous suite of stained glass windows by noted artist, Jacob Landau.

 

For more information, or to set up a group tour, call the Museum at 215-887-2027 or 215-887-8700, or fax 215-887-1070.
  E-Mail:  TJMuseum@KenesethIsrael.org

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