 The
Jewish Museum
The
Jewish Year Calendar 2004
Buy This 2004 Calendar At AllPosters.com
Due to its amalgamation with
the former Museum of Jewish Life, The
Jewish Museum has two separate sites: one in Finchley
and another in a listed building in Camden Town.
It was originally founded
in 1932 with aim of showing the history and religion of
the Jewish community in Britain as well as further afield
and it has one of the finest collections of Jewish art in
the country.
For the museum, Jewish history
in Britain starts at the time of the Norman Conquest and
continues until relatively modern times. It has 18th century
portraits, medieval wooden tax receipts and loving cups
given to the Lord Mayor of London by the Spanish and Portuguese
Synagogue. There is also an interactive map allowing visitors
to see the changes in Jewish population over time.
The Ceremonial Art
Gallery
This gallery explains Jewish religious practices
and it contains many rare and beautiful objects connected
with religion including:
- 16th centry Italian synagogue
ark
- Italian cradle charms
- the oldest English Hanukah
lamp
- embroidered textiles
- illuminated marriage contracts.
Again, this gallery has audio-visual
programmes showing the cycle of festivals as well as the
course of a typical Jewish life from the cradle to the grave.
The Temporary Exhibitions
Gallery
There is a changing programme
of exhibitions in this gallery. Recent ones have included:
- A Time to be Born - Beginning
Life in the Jewish Tradition
- 'Am I My Brother's Keeper'
- Rescue in the Holocaust (closes 1st February 2004)
- By the Rivers of Babylon
- The Story of Jews in Iraq
- Continental Britons -
Jewish Refugees from Nazi Europe
- 'Gentlemen, Scholars &
Scoundrels' - The story of the Spanish and Portuguese
Community
- Some of my Best Jokes
are Jewish - An Exhibition of Jewish Cartoonists
Leon Greenman - British
Citizen and Auschwitz Survivor
As well as the temporary exhibitions, there is a permanent
one, part of the Holocaust Education Gallery, on the life
of Leon Greenman. He was a British citizen who survived
Aushwitz. The exhibition is deeply affecting and powerful
and is intended to alert the world to the continuing dangers
of fascism and racism. As George Santayana said, "Those
who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
Quick Facts
Address 1:
Raymond Burton House, 129-131 Albert Street, London NW1
7NB
Telephone:
020 7284 1997
Fax:
020 7267 9008
Nearest Tube:
Camden Town
Address 2: The
Sternberg Centre, 80 East End Road, London N3 2SY
Telephone: 020 8349 1143
Fax: 020 8343 2162
Nearest Tube: Finchley
Central
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