The Jewish Museum

10/15/11

Land of Milk & Honey

by ericgrossmann

Dubbed as the preeminent museum on Jewish culture in the States, the Jewish Museum in New York lives up to its reputation. Begin your visit to the Museum on the fourth floor and work your way down the permanent exhibition: “Culture and Continuity: The Jewish Journey.” The permanent collection does a wonderful job of showcasing the adaptability and creativity of Jews in their struggle to maintain their identity on foreign soil throughout history. Through the use of historical artifacts scattered with works of modern and contemporary art, the collection effectively highlights the internal debate and the conflicting ideas that have existed within the Jewish communities of various countries on the appropriate extent of integration into their host community during the Diaspora. At the same time, the collection is successful in presenting the extraordinary diversity that has existed within the Jewish community itself throughout history. A must-see for every New Yorker.

01/08/10

Interesting but unfocused

by Scoop NYC

There are lots of great tidbits at the Jewish Museum, but the institution never pulls everything together or probes anything really deeply.

The permanent exhibit begins with a history lesson that traces the Jews from their mirky beginnings before reliable history through the days of the two Jewish kingdoms on what's now Israel to their defeat and dispersal.

That history, along with some quick information about the religious side of Judaism, abruptly transforms into a large collection of art and artifacts made by and for Jews around the world, mostly in the 1700s and 1800s.

Both parts of the exhibition are interesting but both beg more questions than they answer. What percentage of the dispersed Jews ended up converting to the religions of their adopted lands? To what degree are today's Jews descendants of those original ones and to what degree are they later converts? Why did Jews flock to and excel at some crafts but not others?

You won't learn the answers here, but it's still worth a look through the collection.

• Pros: Wonderful collections of historical artifacts
• Cons: Thematically muddled