Current Exhibitions
Sacred Land
The light is clarion, optical, and of a Mediterranean hue. The ancient luminosity refracts into mythology and biblical wisdom.
— Ralph Gibson
Exhibit Opening, Thursday, October 31, 2024
Skirball Museum, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
3101 Clifton Avenue, Cincinnati, OH
5:30 pm Opening Reception
6:15 pm Welcome and Comments: Dr. Joshua Holo, Vice President of Academic Resources, HUC-JIR
Greetings:Tsach Saar, Deputy Consul General of Israel, New York
Exhibit Remarks: Jean Rosensaft, Director, Dr. Bernard Heller Museum, HUC-JIR NY
Exhibit viewing to follow
RSVP for Opening Reception
Sacred Land Lunch and Learn, Thursday, December 5, 2024, at 12:30 p.m.
“Zion – a Place of an Idea.” with Rabbi Haim Rechnitzer, Ph.D., Professor of Jewish Thought
Skirball Museum, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
3101 Clifton Avenue, Cincinnati, OH
RSVP for Lunch and Learn
On View: October 31, 2024–February 23, 2025
Hours: Tuesday and Thursday 11am–3pm, Sunday 1–4pm
Admission: Free
Tours/Information: awheeler@huc.edu or 513.487.3231
Modern Israeli Art, Mark Podwal Prints, and Recent Gifts
August 2023–June 2024
The Mayerson Auditorium gallery features works by such Israeli modernists as Mordecai Ardon and Reuven Rubin from the Skirball’s Nancy Berman and Alan Bloch collection of Modern Israeli art; prints by Mark Podwal “drawn” from ritual objects in the Skirball’s collection; and recent gifts including works by Marc Chagall, Moshe Castel, and Cincinnati artist Wolfgang Ritschel. The focus on art from and about Israel is in celebration of Israel at 75.
The Skirball’s core collection, An Eternal People: The Jewish Experience on the Museum’s 3rd floor features sections on Immigration, Cincinnati Jewish history, archeology, Torah, life cycle, holidays, Holocaust, and Israel. The entire gallery is open while some sections continue to be under renovation.
THE JEWISH AMERICAN HALL OF FAME MEDALS COLLECTION
Founded in 1969 by Mel Wacks at the Judah L. Magnes Museum in Berkeley, California, the Jewish-American Hall of Fame (JAHF) became a division of the American Jewish Historical Society in New York in 2001. In 2019, JAHF celebrated 50 years of making limited edition two-inch bronze medals that commemorate the accomplishment of Jewish-Americans in various fields, as well as to honor historic sites and events in American Jewish history. The entire collection of medals was gifted to the Skirball Museum by Mel and Esther Wacks, Debra Wacks, and Shari Wacks in 2019.
A dedicated space in the lobby of Mayerson Hall features changing exhibitions of selected medals from the collection. Currently on view is a tribute to the 2023 Jewish American Hall of Fame honoree, Solomon Nunes Carvalho, including a sketch, plaster model, book, and the finished medal as well as a video display about the life and work of the honoree.
Solomon Nunes Carvalho (1815-1897) was the son of Sarah Cohen D’Azevedo and her husband David Nunes Carvalho, who were both born in England to Jewish families of Portuguese descent. Solomon’s grandfather had escaped persecution in Portugal and lived in Amsterdam before finally settling in Britain, from which his two sons would emigrate to Barbados and then America. David Nunes Carvalho would help establish the first Reform Jewish congregation in the United States, the Reformed Society of Israelites, in Charleston in 1825. By 1840, David Nunes Carvalho had moved his family to Philadelphia. According to family tradition, young Solomon Carvalho studied with the artist Thomas Sully.
Solomon Nunes married Sarah Miriam Solis (1824-1894) on October 15, 1845 in Philadelphia. By 1850 they lived with his father and family in Baltimore and had a son David and daughter Charity. Solomon’s father had established a workshop in Philadelphia by the time Solomon was 19, and another in Baltimore by 1849, where both became interested in portrait photography using the daguerreotype method, an early form of photography.
In 1853, Solomon accepted the invitation of Colonel John Charles Frémont to accompany him on his fifth expedition of discovery through the Rockies to the Pacific Ocean. As the photographer and artist of the Fremont expedition, Carvalho provided the visual proof that the northern route through the Rockies could be used for the railroad that was being planned to link East and West. Fremont required this evidence to foil those who favored a route through the southern slaveholding states. Carvalho performed exceedingly well under extreme stress and danger. His photographs document the scenery and the Indian tribes that lived in the area between modern Kansas and Utah. His interest in science helped the colonel in recording the topography of the region and its meteorology. Carvalho would nearly die on that trip of scurvy, starvation and frostbite, and he was nursed back to health by Mormons in Utah and Salt Lake City. Frémont and several other surviving members would continue to California. Carvalho later recovered enough to reach Los Angeles and its small Jewish community, helping them organize the Hebrew Benevolent Society.
A major part of Carvalho’s nearly 300 daguerreotypes taken during the expedition were lost in a fire. The surviving ones would later be given by Fremont to photographer Mathew Brady to copy on wet plate negatives, and they became mixed up with others of Brady’s work. Many famous images of the Old West are based on images Carvalho made.
Carvalho retained the pioneering instinct for the rest of his life, even in his later business career. He remains an honored figure in the history of the United States, typifying those who have served both the country at large and the Jewish community.
PREFER TO EXPERIENCE THE SKIRBALL FROM HOME?
Check out these options:
See and hear Cantor Ella Gladstone Martin’s presentation about the musical settings of Had Gadya!
Click here to watch Professor Samantha Baskind’s lecture, Crossing Boundaries and Building Bridges on the art of Siona Benjamin.
Click here for remarks by artist Siona Benjamin at the opening of her show, Beyond Boundaries.
Watch “The Chaser & the Chased: Stella and the Poetry of Had Gadya with Anne Hromadka Greenwald HERE .
Enjoy a 3D virtual tour of our core collection, An Eternal People: The Jewish Experience HERE
Prepare for your visit to the Skirball with this real-time tour of Skirball highlights with Museum Director Abby Schwartz HERE .
Upcoming Exhibitions
Modern Israeli Art, Mark Podwal Prints, and Recent Gifts
August 2023–June 2024
The Mayerson Auditorium gallery features works by such Israeli modernists as Mordecai Ardon and Reuven Rubin from the Skirball’s Nancy Berman and Alan Bloch collection of Modern Israeli art; prints by Mark Podwal “drawn” from ritual objects in the Skirball’s collection; and recent gifts including works by Marc Chagall, Moshe Castel, and Cincinnati artist Wolfgang Ritschel. The focus on art from and about Israel is in celebration of Israel at 75.
Be dazzled by over 100 antique and contemporary Torah pointers, known by the Hebrew word yad for hand. The yad is used to keep one’s place in the Torah scroll, the central text of the Jewish faith, which is densely hand-written in Hebrew. Created by artists from different ages and cultures and made of diverse materials including wood, precious metals, jewels, ceramics, paper, and more, these yads chronicle the timeless, universal aesthetic guide in reading the Torah. The collection was formed by Virginia resident Clay H. Barr, who began collecting Torah pointers nearly three decades ago in memory of her late husband, Jay D.A. Barr. In addition to acquiring pointers that represent the historic forms of the object, she continues to commission creative new yads from contemporary artists such as Tobi Kahn, Wendell Castle, and Albert Paley. Transcending religious iconography, this exhibition appeals to all who appreciate the beauty and craftsmanship of fine art.
All events below will take place at Mayerson Hall, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, 3101 Clifton Avenue, Cincinnati, OH. A live stream option is also available by registering through links below.
Click here for an online booklet describing the Torah pointers in the exhibition.
Click here for an online exhibition of the Torah pointers in the collection of the Skirball Museum.
Click here to watch Clay H. Barr’s slide talk about this dazzling collection.
EXHIBITION OPENING
Thursday, April 11 from 5:30 to 8 p.m.
5:30 p.m. Reception
6:15 p.m. Clay H. Barr, President of the Barr Foundation Judaica, discusses America’s largest and most diverse private collection of Torah pointers. Join us for this informative presentation that will offer insight into the formation of the collection, its diverse craftsmanship, and the role of these instruments as a guiding hand in the spiritual journey of the Jewish people.
Reservations recommended.
MAKE YOUR OWN YAD
Sunday, May 5 from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Join Cincinnati artist Judith Serling-Sturm for a hands-on workshop to create your own Torah pointer, or yad. Serling-Sturm, who works in her Pendelton Arts Center Studio, is a mixed-media artist and maker of artist books, handmade blank books, as well as sculpture and one-of-a-kind mezuzot made from natural elements and found objects. A mezuzah is a vessel containing a scroll that is traditionally hung on the doorpost of a Jewish home. Serling-Sturm has conducted workshops for adults and teens throughout the Cincinnati region. The workshop will include a guided tour of the exhibition.
This program is open to adults and children 14 years and older. Space is limited.
Reservations required.
LUNCH AND LEARN WITH ABBY SCHWARTZ AND SHERI BESSO
Thursday, June 6 from 12 to 2 p.m.
Join Skirball curatorial consultant Abby Schwartz and collections manager and preparator Sheri Besso for an informal light lunch and conversation about the challenges of mounting this exhibition and the craftsmanship of these objects of material culture that are at once tools of devotion and exquisite works of art. The program includes a visit to the exhibition.
Reservations required.
CLOSING DAY OF THE EXHIBITION
Sunday, July 28 from 1 to 4 p.m.
Final day to see The Guiding Hand: The Barr Foundation Collection of Torah Pointers.
Inter-generational Art Experience
Sunday, January 21, 2024
2:30 pm – 4:00 pm EST
Cincinnati Skirball Museum
Sharareh Khosravani
We’re thrilled to have artist Sharareh Khosravani, one of the talented artists featured in our current exhibition, Motherhood Essence and the Feminine Divine: Cincinnati and Israeli Artists Interpret The Female Experience, lead participants in an art activity for all ages! Join us for a day where all generations come together to connect, create, learn, and share in the joy of artistic expression and togetherness.
Registration required.
RSVP
After a lengthy closure, the galleries devoted to Torah, Life Cycle, and Holidays and Festivals in the Skirball’s core exhibition An Eternal People: The Jewish Experience, are once again open with new cases, new signage and ritual objects from the B’nai B’rith Klutznick Collection that have never been on view before. Old favorites are seen in a whole new light, literally and figuratively.
This grand reopening is made even more meaningful by the opportunity to bring the work of Santa Fe-based artist Ellie Beth Scott to the Skirball’s second floor foyer. For her exhibition Eve: I Understand, Scott was inspired by selected ritual objects in the Skirball collection used by women and by practices performed by women, rendering richly colored pieces using fabric, thread, paint, buttons, and beads.
In the fourth-floor gallery, the focus on women continues with Motherhood Essence and
the Feminine Divine: Cincinnati and Israeli Artists Interpret The Female Experience, organized by ish in celebration of Israel at 75. Ish, whose mission is to create intentional spaces for connection and acceptance through the arts, brings together four Israeli and four Cincinnati artists to create eight original works of art and four additional works that interpret and “re-art” the work of their colleagues. The works respond to the power of women as community builders, organizers, and healers through times of crisis and change.
All events below will take place at Mayerson Hall, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, 3101 Clifton Avenue, Cincinnati, OH.
ALL EXHIBITIONS OPEN
Thursday, October 19, 2023 from 5:30 – 8:00 p.m.
5:30 p.m. | Reception
6:15 p.m. | Welcome: Abby Schwartz, curatorial consultant to the Skirball Museum and Marie Krulewitch-Browne, executive director of ish
Remarks: Ellie Beth Scott, Israeli artist Dana Cohen, and Cincinnati artist Avery Plummer share insights on their respective exhibitions, Eve: I Understand and Motherhood Essence and the Feminine Divine.
Registration required.
RSVP
COFFEE AND CONVERSATION WITH ELLIE BETH SCOTT
Thursday, October 26, 2023 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Join artist Ellie Beth Scott and curatorial consultant Abby Schwartz for coffee and conversation about the artist’s latest fabric installation and its relationship to the Skirball’s collection.
Registration required.
RSVP
LUNCH AND LEARN: AN INSIDER’S VIEW OF THE NEWLY INSTALLED GALLERIES
Thursday, November 9, 2023 from 12:00 to 1:30 p.m.
Join curatorial consultant Abby Schwartz and preparator and collections manager Sheri Besso for a behind-the-scenes look at the reinstallation of the galleries devoted to Torah, Life Cycle, and Holidays and Festivals. A light lunch will be served.
Registration required.
RSVP
CLOSING DAY
Sunday, February 4, 2024 from 12:00 to 1:30 p.m.
Last day to self-tour Eve: I Understand and Motherhood Essence and the Feminine Divine.
EXHIBITION OPENING
Thursday, April 20 at 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm ET
5:30 pm ET | Reception (in-person only).
6:15 pm ET | Siona Benjamin takes us “Beyond Borders” with an illustrated talk about her artistic journey to this deeply personal and wide-ranging body of work. In-person and via Livestream.
Registration required.
SIONA BENJAMIN:
CROSSING BOUNDARIES AND BUILDING BRIDGES
Wednesday, May 31 at 7:00 pm ET
In-person and via Livestream
Dr. Samantha Baskind, Distinguished Professor of Art History at Cleveland State University and curator of this exhibition, will discuss how Siona Benjamin’s layered and multifaceted identity influences her artwork. Mingling styles derived from comic books, Pop Art, Bollywood, Indian and Persian miniatures, and Hebrew illuminated manuscripts, Benjamin blends tradition with innovation, while navigating feelings of inclusion and exclusion. Dr. Baskind is the author of five books and more than 100 articles, mainly on Jewish American art.
Registration required.
COFFEE AND CONVERSATION
Tuesday, July 11 at 10:30 am ET
Join Skirball Museum curatorial consultant Abby Schwartz for a guided tour of the exhibition (in-person only).
Registration required.
CLOSING DAY
Sunday, July 30 at 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm ET
Enjoy this final day to self-tour the exhibition (in-person only).
Siona Benjamin has been making intricately detailed, transnational art with a feminist, Jewish, and political bent for almost two decades. Her distinct and unusual heritage as a descendant of the Bene Israel Jewish community of India informs her artistic perspective. Immigration, gender, the concept of “home”, and the role of art in social change are explored through vibrantly hued paintings.
All in-person events below will take place at Mayerson Hall, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, 3101 Clifton Avenue, Cincinnati, OH. Livestream links will be provided upon registration.
EXHIBITION OPENING
Thursday, April 20 at 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm ET
5:30 pm ET | Reception (in-person only).
6:15 pm ET | Siona Benjamin takes us “Beyond Borders” with an illustrated talk about her artistic journey to this deeply personal and wide-ranging body of work. In-person and via Livestream.
Registration required.
SIONA BENJAMIN:
CROSSING BOUNDARIES AND BUILDING BRIDGES
Wednesday, May 31 at 7:00 pm ET
In-person and via Livestream
Dr. Samantha Baskind, Distinguished Professor of Art History at Cleveland State University and curator of this exhibition, will discuss how Siona Benjamin’s layered and multifaceted identity influences her artwork. Mingling styles derived from comic books, Pop Art, Bollywood, Indian and Persian miniatures, and Hebrew illuminated manuscripts, Benjamin blends tradition with innovation, while navigating feelings of inclusion and exclusion. Dr. Baskind is the author of five books and more than 100 articles, mainly on Jewish American art.
Registration required.
COFFEE AND CONVERSATION
Tuesday, July 11 at 10:30 am ET
Join Skirball Museum curatorial consultant Abby Schwartz for a guided tour of the exhibition (in-person only).
Registration required.
CLOSING DAY
Sunday, July 30 at 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm ET
Enjoy this final day to self-tour the exhibition (in-person only).
One might not immediately associate Frank Stella (b. 1936), the American painter, sculptor, and printmaker noted for his work in the areas of minimalism and post-painterly abstraction with a cumulative, lyrical poem that concludes the traditional Seder, or festive meal, on the Jewish holiday of Passover.
Had Gadya (One Little Goat) is one of the earliest recorded songs for children. Just as each verse of the song builds on one before it, Stella builds on the original 1919 series of prints by Russian-Jewish avante-garde artist El Lissitzky (1890–1941). Lissitzky, who began his career illustrating Yiddish children’s books, created a print for each stanza of the famous song. Stella first encountered these works in the Tel Aviv Art Museum in 1981 and was profoundly inspired by their movement and the vibrancy of the simplified, graphic forms.
Frank Stella’s Had Gadya print series took two years to complete. The large prints were created using a combination of various techniques—lithography, linoleum block, silkscreen, and rubber relief with collage elements and hand-coloring. The prints were finally published by Waddington Graphics, London, in 1984. After completing the edition, Stella created between two and nine variants of each of the twelve Had Gadya illustrations.
The Skirball Museum is the second venue for a national tour of the three Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion campuses in North America. Frank Stella: Had Gadya appeared at the Los Angeles campus March 31–December 31, 2022 and will be on view at the Dr. Bernard Heller Museum on the New York campus September 7, 2023 – March 2, 2024.
All in-person events below will take place at Mayerson Hall, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, 3101 Clifton Avenue, Cincinnati, OH.
| Jewish Cincinnati: A Photographic Record by J. Miles Wolf extends the photographer’s 2018 FotoFocus exploration of Jewish houses of worship in Cincinnati to a broader integration of the Jewish community within Cincinnati. The exhibition focuses on photographs that document Jewish contributions in all walks of life, including former places of business such as the Krohn-Fechheimer Shoe Factory, the Fechheimer Brothers Company, the Manischewitz Matzo factory, Bloch Printing, and the American Israelite newspaper, as well as synagogues on the West Side and in Northern Kentucky.
All events take place or start at Mayerson Hall, HUC-JIR/Cincinnati, 3101 Clifton Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45220. Reservations are required, and programs are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted. |
Holy Flying Sparks, Siona Benjamin, mixed media, New York
Exhibition Opening
Thursday, October 27, 2022 from 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm ET
In person and on Livestream
Reservations recommended
5:30 pm ET | Reception
6:15 pm ET | Photographer J. Miles Wolf discusses his work and process in bringing former Jewish community institutions to life and visits the gallery installation for informal conversation with attendees.
Jewish Cincinnati Bus Tour
Sunday, November 6, 2022 from 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm ET
In person only
Visit Jewish sites in Cincinnati’s West End, Downtown, Price Hill, and Avondale with photographer J. Miles Wolf and Skirball Museum director and exhibition curator Abby Schwartz. Visit the exhibition Jewish Cincinnati: A Photographic Record at the Skirball Museum on the historic campus of Hebrew Union College following the bus tour.
$25 general public; $18 Skirball members and FotoFocus Passport holders. Space limited.
LUNCH AND LEARN WITH J. MILES WOLF AND ABBY SCHWARTZ
Thursday, December 8, 2022 from 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm ET
In person only
Join photographer J. Miles Wolf and Skirball Museum director and exhibition curator Abby Schwartz for an informal light lunch and gallery walk and talk of Jewish Cincinnati: A Photographic Record by J. Miles Wolf.
JEWISH CINCINNATI: A TAPESTRY OF ART AND HISTORY
Wednesday, January 18, 2023 from 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm ET
In person and on Livestream
Against the backdrop of the exhibition Jewish Cincinnati: A Photographic Record by J. Miles Wolf, enjoy an illustrated lecture by Skirball Museum director and exhibition curator Abby Schwartz about Cincinnati’s rich legacy of Jewish art and history. Visit the exhibition following the lecture with Schwartz and photographer J. Miles Wolf.
CLOSING RECEPTION
Sunday, January 29, 2023 from 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm ET
In person only
Museum staff and volunteers and photographer J. Miles Wolf will be on hand for informal tours on the final day of the exhibition Jewish Cincinnati: A Photographic Record by J. Miles Wolf. Light refreshments will be served.
CLICK HERE to watch the Livestream of the slide talk by J. Miles Wolf at the opening of the exhibition:
Listen to the American Israelite Let There Be Light podcast with J. Miles Wolf and Abby Schwartz HERE
Read CityBeat Review HERE
See American Israelite story HERE
JOINT EXHIBITION OPENINGS AT THE SKIRBALL AND THE AJA!
HOLY SPARKS: CELEBRATING FIFTY YEARS OF WOMEN IN THE RABBINATE
Presented in partnership with The Braid and the HUC Dr. Bernard Heller Museum
May 19 extended through September 11, 2022
Twenty-four pioneering rabbis’ lives and achievements are illuminated in the works of twenty-four leading contemporary Jewish women artists in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the ordination of Rabbi Sally J. Priesand as the first woman rabbi in North America.
AND
SALLY PRIESAND PAVES THE WAY: CELEBRATING FIFTY YEARS OF WOMEN IN THE RABBINATE
This exhibition features never-before seen documents relating to Sally J. Priesand’s journey to becoming the first woman rabbi ordained in North American in 1972 as well as unique memorabilia and personal artifacts recently donated by Rabbi Priesand to the American Jewish Archives.
Watch video of opening program here.
Read more about Holy Sparks here.
Read more about Holy Sparks and Sally Priesand Paving the Way here.
Read even more about Holy Sparks and Sally Priesand here.
Exhibits honor 50th anniversary of first woman rabbi, Sally Priesand (cincinnati.com)
Holy Flying Sparks, Siona Benjamin, mixed media, New York
FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT: MOSAICS INSPIRED BY TRAGEDY
CLOSING MAY 29
The Tree of Life Synagogue Mosaic Project is the brainchild of Susan Ribnick, co-chair of the Austin Mosaic Guild in Texas. Just days after the horrific attack at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Ribnick was inspired to use her skills and passion as an artist to help her heal. She reached out to fellow mosaic artists and brought together 36 people from around the country and the world to create a collection of mosaics that react and respond to the Tree of Life massacre.
If you missed the virtual opening of From Darkness to Light: Mosaics Inspired by Tragedy you can watch it here:
https://vimeo.com/681665975
Click here to view the exhibition guidebook.
A COLLAGE OF CUSTOMS by MARK PODWAL
CLOSING MAY 8, 2022
In this exhibition, Mark Podwal’s imaginative and inventive interpretations of woodcuts from a 16th-century Sefer Minhagim (Book of Customs) allow readers of this volume to see these historic images in a new light. Podwal brings humor and whimsy to religious objects and practices, while at the same time delivering profound and nuanced commentary on Jewish customs and history, both through his art, and through his insightful accompanying text. The exhibition will also feature various editions of the Sefer Minhagim borrowed from the Klau Library and other prestigious collections. The exhibition appears in concert with a new HUC Press publication, A Collage of Customs: Iconic Jewish Woodcuts Revised for the Twenty-First Century.
Click here for recording of Mark Podwal’s enlightening talk: Unexpected Juxtapositions
Check out a PRINT story, podcast, and interview about/with Mark Podwal and A Collage of Customs:
The Daily Heller: Collaging Whimsy Into Ancient Judaic Rites and Customs – PRINT Magazine
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/safe-and-sound/id1020815439?i=1000548438147
Previous Exhibitions
Click here for an illustrated guide to A Portrait of Jewish Cincinnati.
Click here for a 3D tour of A Portrait of Jewish Cincinnati! Pair it with the illustrated guide for a comprehensive armchair tour!
Click here to watch recording of A Portrait of Jewish Cincinnati: Up Close and Personal!.
Click here to watch recording of Bicentennial Bling: Jewelry and Fashion in A Portrait of Jewish Cincinnati
Click these links for more information about the exhibition:
Portrait exhibit features ‘movers and shakers’ from 200 years of Jewish life in Cincinnati | WVXU
American Israelites: Cincinnati and the
Shaping of Jewish Community in the United States
Thursday, January 20 at 6:00 pm ET
The Mercantile Library, 414 Walnut St., Cincinnati
Professor Karla Goldman, Director of the Jewish Communal Leadership Program at the University of Michigan, will discuss her upcoming book, “American Israelites: Cincinnati and the Shaping of Jewish Community in the United States.” Tracing Cincinnati’s rise and fall as a leading center of American Jewish life, Professor Goldman will show that the communal choices of Cincinnati’s Jews resulted in a particular kind of American identity – one that affirmed both difference and belonging.
Cincinnati Synagogues: Claiming Space in the Expanding City
Friday, January 21 at 11:30 am ET
Cincinnati’s Jewish community has occupied three significant geographic spaces over its two-hundred year history in the Queen City. Historians Anne Delano Steinert, Professor Karla Goldman, and Alayna Gould will offer short talks on the synagogue architecture of each period and how it served the changing needs and circumstances of Jewish Cincinnati. This event will take place online only
Avondale History Lecture Series: Jewish Avondale
Saturday, January 22 at 12:00 pm ET
Avondale Branch Library, 3566 Reading Road, Cincinnati
Professor Karla Goldman will explore the distinct era from the 1920s through the 1950s when the streets of Avondale were home to a very American way of being Jewish and a very Jewish way of being American. The former synagogue buildings that still populate Reading Road and Forest Avenue today offer glimpses of the vibrant Jewish social, religious, and communal fabric that filled this neighborhood at this time
Sixty Paintings
Watch Archie Rand and Samantha Baskind in conversation about Sixty Paintings from the Bible HERE
Never got a chance to see this amazing exhibition while it was at the Skirball? Enjoy this real-time tour of the provocative and colorful show
with Curator Samantha Baskind, Ph.D. as your armchair guide HERE .
Summer Spotlight on Olympic Swimmer Dara Torres
In anticipation of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic until July 23—August 8, 2021, we are pleased to honor United States Olympic athlete Dara Torres. Torres was the 2020 Jewish American Hall of Fame (JAHF) honoree. Her medal has recently joined the JAHF collection of the Skirball Museum, gifted in 2019 by Mel and Esther Wacks, Debra Wacks, and Shari Wacks. The spotlight exhibition, which features the new medal as well as preliminary sketches and a plaster model, is on view throughout the summer.
The Power of Women in the Jewish-American Hall of Fame
The Skirball Museum celebrates the POWER OF HER with a display of medals from the Jewish-American Hall of Fame commemorating the accomplishments of six remarkable women in fields including literature, education, advocacy, medicine, and public service.
The Skirball Museum is proud to present profiles of six members of the Jewish-American Hall of Fame and the medals commemorating their accomplishments. Each of these women has made significant contributions in literature, education, advocacy, medicine, and public service. These medals are from a collection representing 50 years of the Jewish-American Hall of Fame, recently gifted to the Skirball Museum by Mel and Esther Wacks, Debra Wacks, and Sheri Wacks.
Modern Israeli Art: Recent Gifts From Nancy Berman and Alan Bloch
Anna Ticho. Mordecai Ardon. Yosl Bergner. Marcel Janco. Menashe Kadishman. Reuven Rubin. Ivan Schwebel. Shalom of Safed. Anna Ticho. David Gerstein. This exhibition features ten works by some of the best-known and most influential artists living and working in Israel throughout the twentieth century. Recently gifted to the Skirball Museum by Nancy Berman and Alan Bloch, many of the works were purchased directly from the artists or from distinguished early Israeli galleries by Nancy Berman’s parents, Philip and Muriel Berman.
Hanukkah Homecoming at the Skirball Museum
Sunday, December 5
2:00-3:30 pm ET
HUC Skirball Museum
3101 Clifton Avenue, Cincinnati
Can’t make it in-person? Join us on Livestream.
The Skirball Museum is excited to participate in Hanukkah Homecoming Weekend, celebrating Hanukkah alongside Jewish organizations around the world. Join Skirball Museum Director Abby Schwartz for an “illuminating” illustrated talk about Hanukkah-related art objects in the Museum’s collections followed by the lighting of the Hanukkah menorah for the last night of Hanukkah. This event will be offered both in-person and on Livestream. Registrants will receive the Livestream link prior to the event.
We are also offering a Hanukkah gift for our guests: a visit to our current exhibition A Portrait of Jewish Cincinnati!
Register by Thursday, December 2 at noon.
Proof of COVID vaccination required for entry.
Masks required for staff and visitors.
Left: Hanukkah Lamp, Robert Lipnick, USA, 1992, glazed earthenware, B’nai B’rith Klutznick Collection of the Cincinnati Skirball Museum.
Middle: Hanukkah Lamp, gilt silver and brass, Austrian Empire, 2nd half of 19th century, B’nai B’rith Klutznick Collection of the Cincinnati Skirball Museum, gift of Joseph B. and Olyn Horwitz.
Right: Menorah #2, Marvin Lipofsky, hand-blown glass; cut, sandblasted and polished, United States, 1998, Cincinnati Skirball Museum, gift of the family of Judy Luas in honor of her special birthday.
Opening the Ark: Bringing a Lost Polish Synagogue to Life
On view through December 30, 2021.
Shmuel Polin, a fifth-year rabbinical student at the Cincinnati campus of HUC-JIR, has built a full-size replica of a Polish Aron Hakodesh (Holy Ark) and has installed it in the lobby of Mayerson Hall, the building that houses the Skirball Museum. The original ark from Sidra, Poland, was destroyed by the Nazis, and is closely related to the 18thcentury Polish Aron Hakodesh that graces the Scheuer Chapel on the historic Cincinnati campus of HUC-JIR. The display of this amazing replica is augmented with documentation of the project and works of art from the Skirball’s collection that are related to the destruction of the wooden synagogues of Europe.
READ MORE ABOUT THE EXHIBITION HERE
READ THE OPENING THE ARK GALLERY GUIDE HERE
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE HUC CONNECT PROGRAM WITH SHMUEL POLIN AND ABBY SCHWARTZ.
Check out this behind the scenes look at Opening the Ark with Shmuel Polin, Abby Scher Schwartz, and our friends from Cedar Village, Rabbi Drew Kaplan, and Jessica Sebastian!
