Skirball at Home

SKIRBALL

AT HOME

During these difficult days of the ongoing pandemic, many of us are spending more time at home. In Jewish life, home is the most sacred of places, known in Hebrew as miqdash me’at, the small sanctuary. Here our most cherished ideals and observances find expression and celebration. What makes a home Jewish? A mezuzah on the doorpost? Sabbath candles on the table? A menorah on Hanukkah? A Seder on Passover? For some of us, all of these; but for all of us, home is the people who live in it, and the values they bring to it. Home is how we care for each other and our neighbors. A Jewish home has a Jewish heart. Throughout the past year, the Skirball’s at-home and online offerings have sought to connect with our community in just this spirit—from our home to yours. We aspire to be your home away from home, the place where you are always welcome, where no one is a stranger.

Right: Skirball Stages—an online storytelling and music series that paired acts from around the world with talent from the Los Angeles music scene—wrapped in the spring of 2021. The February concert showcased American roots music from locals Joachim Cooder and Ry Cooder on stage in the Taper Courtyard and Amythyst Kiah performing in East Tennessee. The series finale in May featured Caribbean beats by Yosmel Montejo (pictured) in the Skirball’s Ahmanson Hall and Vox Sambou in Montreal. Photo by Larry Sandez.

Above: Vice President and Museum Director Sheri Bernstein presented highlights of the Skirball’s hanukkiah collection to The Forward’s National Editor Rob Eshman during the online program Hanukkah Happy Hour. Video still by More Media.

166,824

digital connections in 2021

Above: Based on the book by Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, the online exhibition Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope took an unflinching look at crises hiding in plain sight. Here, Daniel McDowell plays basketball at a park. He is committed to getting sober for the sake of his young son, but he worries his felony drug conviction will limit his job prospects. © Photo by Lynsey Addario.

Right: The documentary They Ain’t Ready for Me follows rabbinical student and community leader Tamar Manasseh (pictured), who spent every summer day sitting on the corner in her neighborhood to dedicate it for safe play. The Skirball presented the online screening—one of 143 online offerings in 2021—with a virtual talk between Manasseh and director Brad Rothschild, who discussed how to bring joy and safety to a community. Film still courtesy of Red Shield Pictures and 3 Generations.

Above: In June, food writer and historian Michael Twitty (left) interviewed Jake Cohen (right), author of the new cookbook Jew-ish: Reinvented Recipes from a Modern Mensch. In the lively virtual conversation, Cohen shared the stories behind his innovative and mouthwatering recipes.

Above: Minneapolis-based Ananya Dance Theatre created the film Dastak: I Wish You Me, directed by Darren Johnson, to comment on global injustice in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the uprisings that followed. The Skirball’s virtual presentation included a conversation between choreographer Ananya Chatterjea and collaborators Sharon Bridgforth and Spirit McIntyre.

Above: In a gesture of gratitude for essential workers upon the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Skirball’s friends at Hillside Memorial Park and Mortuary organized a delivery of fifty three-course Skirball Suppers to emergency room workers at Cedars-Sinai. Each meal also included conversation starters inspired by Jewish history. Photo courtesy of Hillside Memorial Park and Mortuary.