The Jewish World by Rizzoli International Publications

42 | Protections

In 1929 the Jewish attorney and activist A. B. Salem

Torah ark Kochi, Kerala, India, 17th–18th century Paint, shellac, and gold leaf on wood (teak), cartouche with tin and brass veneer, 13 x 8 x 1 ft. Gift of the Jewish Community of Ernakulam, India, Bernard Kimmel Collection, 67.0.3 a–z

(see p. 64) offered this description of the Torah ark in the Paradesi Synagogue, also located in Mattancherry: “Now, you come to the Ark. It is nothing more than an Almirah [cupboard], beautifully carved and ornamented in gold and red and it encases the Books of Law. On opening the Almirah, you will find the Rolls of Parchments enclosed in caskets,

esigned to contain several biblical scrolls and cases, the Torah ark of the Tekkumbhagam Synagogue in Mattancherry (Kochi), stands

thirteen feet high. The wooden structure, made of multiple individual elements, is elaborately carved and painted predominantly in red and green with gold leaf. Its four columns with their shell capitals flank two tiers of double doors. Above, the draped central cartouche is inscribed in Hebrew: keter torah (Crown of the Torah). “Jews have lived for at least a millennium as a secure and respected minority on the southwest Malabar coast of India, now part of the modern state of Kerala,” notes the scholar Barbara Johnson. “While faithfully practicing halachic Judaism and maintaining contact with other communities in the global Jewish Diaspora, they have also played an integral and proud role in Kerala’s cosmopolitan culture, contributing significantly to the economy, speaking and writing the local

either covered with silver or silver and gold and velvet, with either golden or silver crowns on the top of them. The Jews do not object to these sacred books being opened to the view of the visitor. The stranger thus gets an opportunity to see the Script in which the Lord of the Universe wrote down or got the Law written for the benefit of mankind. These Rolls of Parchment, made out of sheep-skin, are still prepared under old traditional rules, and the pen and ink with which it is written are also still of the ordained kind.”2 Almost a decade later David G. Mandelbaum (1911–1987), one of the first cultural anthropologists to undertake ethnographic research on the Jewish community in Kerala, photographed this ark. 1. Barbara C. Johnson, Introduction, “Global India: Kerala, Israel, Berkeley: Case Study No. 4,” exh. brochure (Berkeley: The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, 2013). 2. A. B. Salem, Eternal Light, or Jew Town Synagogue (Ernakulam, India: S. D. Printing Works, 1929), 22–23.

Malayalam language (as well as being literate in Hebrew), and peacefully sharing in the everyday lives of their Hindu, Muslim, and Christian neighbors.”1 Although only a few Jewish families remain in Kerala, their ancient community has been reconstructed in Israel, where most of the Kerala Jews resettled after the 1948 founding of the Jewish state. The Tekkumbhagam Synagogue in Kochi was the only one of the eight Kerala synagogues to be demolished after most of its congregation immigrated to Israel. Its ark, which was disassembled and stored in a synagogue nearby in Ernakulam, is similar in style to those of several other synagogues in Kerala (two of which are now in Israel). Like the synagogues themselves, the arks were made of teak, donated by local maharajas and carved by local (usually Hindu) artisans following detailed instructions provided by Jewish congregants.

David G. Mandelbaum Torah Ark, Paradesi Synagogue Kochi, Kerala, India, 1937

Lantern slide, 3¼ x 4 in. David G. Mandelbaum Collection, 76.311.2.4

Protections | 43

Purim plate Germany, 18th century Painted faience, 14½ in. diameter Museum purchase with funds provided by Dr. Elliott Zaleznik, 81.58

urim celebrates the story

The celebration of Purim involves

told in the Book of Esther,

a reading of the Book of Esther,

in which the queen, at the

during which congregants often try

urging of Mordecai, helps save the

to blot out Haman’s name with vocal

Jews in Persia from a massacre

cries or noisemakers whenever it is

planned by Haman, the king’s

mentioned. Sending gifts of food

adviser. Warned by Mordecai of

and making donations to charity

Haman’s plot, Queen Esther bravely

are important Purim customs, as

goes before the king (who does not

is a festive meal.

know of her Jewish ancestry) and,

This plate for delivering Purim

after inviting him to a feast, reveals

gifts depicts the parade honoring

Haman’s treachery. The king then

Mordecai, which the king had

orders Haman to be killed and allows

ordered to acknowledge Mordecai’s

the Jews to rise up and destroy any

role in uncovering a threat to the

enemies, which they do. Their victory

king. Dressed in royal apparel,

is cause for joyous feasting on the

Mordecai rides a horse led by Haman.

14th day of the Hebrew month of

The Hebrew inscriptions around the

Adar (in February or March) — an

edge read (with some spelling errors):

event that Mordecai declares should

“Send portions one to another and

be honored every year.

gifts to the poor” (after Esther 9:22).

Though a minor holiday in

Above the figures it says: “Thus shall

the Jewish year cycle, the Purim

it be done unto the man whom the

festival assumed unusual significance

king delights to honor” (Esther 6:11).

for Jews living as a religious minority,

The Hebrew below identifies Haman

whether in Christian Europe or the

on the left and Mordecai on the right.

Islamic East. The story of deliverance with its intricate plot and many unexpected twists has been imbued over the centuries with commentaries and deep meanings that make it extremely relevant to Jewish audiences in various parts of the Diaspora. 66 | Illuminations

Illuminations | 67

Shofar and case Beerfelden, Germany, 1784 Horn and wood, with velvet interior in case, 11¼ x 7 x 2 in. (shofar) and 12 x 8¼ x 2¼ in. (case) Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Irving Jonas, 73.27.1a–b

his is a rare example of a shofar in its original case. While the shape of the instrument suggests Eastern European origins, the case, lined with velvet

inside, is painted with a leaf and berry design typical of 18th-century peasant painting in Germany. There may be a reference to the depictions of wreaths that denoted the Lutheran Church. Or it is possible that the design served as a visual pun on the name of the town (Beere in German means “berry”), which hosted a small Jewish community until the Holocaust.

82 | Sensations

New Year’s card Germany, late 19th–early 20th century Postcard, 5½ x 3½ in. Gift of Solomon L. Gluck, 73.43.10

he wreathlike leaf and berry design of the shofar is repeated in this New Year’s

card. It depicts the Torah shield of the High Priest (kohen gadol) equipped with twelve placeholders for the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, referenced in the Hebrew quotation from Exodus 39:14 below: “And the stones were according to the names of the children of Israel.” Following this passage is the traditional Hebrew greeting le-shanah tovah tikatevu (May you be inscribed for a good year).

Sensations | 83

98 | Sensations

Al Farrow Menorah (II) United States, 2005 Guns, bullets, and steel, 23⅛ x 24 ⅞ x 12 in. Gift of Claire I. Wahrhaftig, 2008.35

aised in a Jewish family

Catholic reliquaries. I thought about

in Brooklyn, but now living

all the violence done in the name of

in the San Francisco Bay

religion. This happens in all religions,

Area, Al Farrow (b. 1943) is best

even Buddhism.” Farrow further

known for his controversial reliquaries.

explained: “My work is not dogmatic;

Based on Jewish, Christian, and

it’s open to interpretation. I want

Muslim motifs, these sculptures are

it to be provocative.”1 Along with a

made from gun parts, bullets, artillery

number of menorahs, Farrow has cre-

shells, and human bone. The nine

ated such Jewish ritual objects as spice

branches of the menorah shown here

boxes, Purim groggers (noisemakers),

are made from machine gun barrels,

and mezuzahs out of gun parts, bul-

with four gun triggers at the base,

lets, and shell castings.

surrounded by bullets. “I have been doing social commentary art all my life,” Farrow told a reporter. “I began the series of

1. Tova Green, “‘The Work Will Speak My Mind’: An Interview with Al Farrow,” Shangha News, May 25, 2012.

religious objects and buildings . . . after a trip to Europe in which I saw

Sensations | 99

Burton Freund Inbal Dancer United States, 1950s Bronze and wood, 15⅜ x 17 x 4 in. Gift of Leo and Julia Krashen, 85.14.2

orn in Chicago, where he studied at the Art Institute, Burton Freund (1915–1968) was a prominent illustrator, sculptor, wood engraver,

and puppeteer. During the 1930s he worked for the Federal Art Project in Chicago, where he produced wood and plaster panels for schools and the zoo. His illustrations appeared in many American literary magazines, including the New Yorker. This sculpture most likely depicts a member of the Inbal Dance Theater, founded in Israel in 1949 by Sara Levi-Tanai to continue the traditions of Yemenite Jews. Eventually incorporating folkloric elements of the various ethnic groups in Israel, the company was chosen to represent Israel around the world, touring North America and Europe in the years 1957 to 1959.

124 | Expulsions

Expulsions | 125

162 | Reparations

Harold Paris Where Are We Going? United States, 1973 Woodcut on buff Japon paper, 18 x 28 in. Gift of Harold Paris, 77.4.2

orn in Edgemere, Long Island, Harold Paris (1925â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1979) grew up

immersed in the Yiddish theater community, of which his father was part. He was a primarily self-taught artist who became a sculptor and printmaker. While serving in the army during World War II, he was a reporter for the military newspaper Stars and Stripes, where he was assigned to cover the Nuremberg Trials. Deeply moved by the accounts of the Holocaust, especially those concerning Buchenwald, one of the largest concentration camps in Germany, he began the Buchenwald Series of nine woodcuts (including this one) in 1945, eventually publishing the print portfolio in 1973. In 1960 Paris moved to Oakland to teach at the University of California, Berkeley.

Reparations | 163