The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art & Life

10/16/2026

Check out What's On at the Magnes in our October newsletter!

Read about Ari'el Stachel and his one-man play, Other, coming to the Magnes in October along with additional upcoming programs and updates on student engagement.

🔗 Read the issue at https://mailchi.mp/berkeley/magnes-newsletter-oct-2026

Get the latest news from the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life in our October 2026 What's On issue!

10/14/2026

Get your tickets before they are gone! Ari’el Stachel is coming to the Magnes for a 1-night only performance of his Off-Broadway, one-man play 'Other', an acclaimed dramedy about the anxious art of belonging.

Thursday, October 29, 2026
5:30-7:30 pm

In person at UC Berkeley's Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life
2121 Allston Way, Downtown Berkeley (between Shattuck and Oxford)

From his childhood at a Bay Area Jewish day school to his Tony Award®-winning performance in 'The Band’s Visit', Ari’el Stachel brings an ensemble of voices from his past to life in a raw and hilarious one-man show. Navigating a mixed Yemeni-Israeli and Ashkenazi-American heritage, Stachel explores the tension of feeling like an outsider within his own community. From early reinventions to performing through chronic panic on stage, he confronts identity, self-acceptance, and the pursuit of his dreams with humor and heart—delivering a performance as relentlessly funny as it is vulnerable.

Learn more and buy tickets at https://bit.ly/4hPcyr2

Presented in partnership with the Magnes, Division of Equity and Inclusion, UC Berkeley Bridging Fellowship Program, Berkeley Hillel, Helen Diller Institute for Jewish Law and Israel Studies at UC Berkeley, and Berkeley's Center for Jewish Studies.

10/13/2026

An American legal legacy rooted in our earliest history. ⚖️

Few legal minds have shaped American common law as profoundly as Supreme Court Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo (1870–1938).

Cardozo’s connection to the Jewish-American story are deep. He descended from two prominent Portuguese Sephardic families—the Cardozos and the Nathans—who both arrived in the British colonies long before the American Revolution. And he was a lifelong member of Manhattan’s historic Spanish-Portuguese Congregation Shearith Israel, the very first Jewish congregation established in New York City.

Appointed to the nation's highest court in 1932, his groundbreaking opinions helped guide the country through the constitutional challenges of the Great Depression, proving that principles could evolve to meet the needs of a changing society.

As we mark America’s 250th anniversary, we honor the pioneering legal giants who helped forge our nation's laws while staying true to the historic Jewish communities that shaped them.



https://bit.ly/4wLlT99 Portrait of Justice Benjamin Nathan Cardozo, circa 1890. Photograph. Gift of Mrs. Edgar Kahn 72.12

10/11/2026

Music filled the Magnes as UC Berkeley students performed in the gallery during Cal's Homecoming Weekend!

10/09/2026

We recently welcomed our Leadership Circle, supporters, and friends to preview Nancy Lee Katz: A Private Pantheon before it opened to the public.

Moderated by Magnes senior curator Alissa Schapiro, the centerpiece of the evening was an insightful conversation between guest curator Lauren Graves and Katz’s life partner, Michael S. Sachs, who gifted the collection to the Magnes in 2024. During the discussion, Sachs offered a vivid personal account of Katz’s fierce dedication to privacy and her solo craft.

Thank you to everyone who joined us, including UC Berkeley Dean Sara Guyer, Nancy's sister Virginia Katz, her master printer Brian Young and his wife Liza Finley, Magnes Advisory Board chair Helen Bulwik, and LABA Bay artistic director Elissa Strauss!

Unfolding in two parts (fall and spring), the exhibition presents, for the first time, the entirety of Katz's Pantheon.

The Magnes is open Tuesday, Wednesday, and Sunday from 11am-4pm and Thursday from 11am-7pm. Admission is free!

📷: Kelly Keltos & Devlin Shand for Drew Altizer Photography

10/08/2026

Looking for something to do this Sunday during Cal’s Alumni and Parent Weekend at Homecoming?

Stop by the Magnes for a gallery tour of "Nancy Lee Katz: A Private Pantheon" followed by a special concert in the gallery with UC Berkeley faculty and student musicians playing compositions by, and instruments of, sitters on view.

Sunday, October 11, 2026
In person at UC Berkeley's Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, 2121 Allston Way, downtown Berkeley between Shattuck and Oxford.

Gallery Tour at 1:30pm
Gallery Concert at 2:00pm
Museum hours: 11am - 4pm

Admission is free!

Learn more and RSVP at https://magnes.berkeley.edu/program/gallery-concert-elliott-carter/

Leighton Fong will be playing "Figment No.2 for Solo Cello (Remembering Mr. Ives)" by Elliott Carter (1908- 2012) and UC Berkeley students Michael Arumainayagam on violin and Rohith Karur on cello performing "Sonata for Violin and Cello" by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

10/06/2026

Don’t miss the chance to see Ari’el Stachel in his Off-Broadway, one-man play 'Other', an acclaimed dramedy about the anxious art of belonging.

Funny…sympathetic…and wrenching! – The New York Times

From his childhood at a Bay Area Jewish day school to his Tony Award®-winning performance in 'The Band’s Visit', Ari’el Stachel brings an ensemble of voices from his past to life in a raw and hilarious one-man show. Navigating a mixed Yemeni-Israeli and Ashkenazi-American heritage, Stachel explores the tension of feeling like an outsider within his own community. From early reinventions to performing through chronic panic on stage, he confronts identity, self-acceptance, and the pursuit of his dreams with humor and heart—delivering a performance as relentlessly funny as it is vulnerable.

Thursday, October 29, 2026
5:30-7:30 pm
In person at UC Berkeley's Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life
2121 Allston Way, Downtown Berkeley (between Shattuck and Oxford)

Learn more and buy tickets at https://bit.ly/4hPcyr2

Presented in partnership with The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art & Life, UC Berkeley Bridging Fellowship Program, Berkeley Hillel, Helen Diller Institute for Jewish Law and Israel Studies at UC Berkeley, and Center for Jewish Studies.

10/02/2026

As the joyful holiday of Sukkot concludes today, we reflect on its enduring themes of unity and harvest with this work from our collection.

Kanarek’s painting, Untitled (Boy with Etrog and Lulav), features a young boy, dressed in traditional attire, reverently holding the Lulav (palm, willow, and myrtle branches) and Etrog (citron). These ritual objects, the Four Species, are central to Sukkot, symbolizing the diversity of the Jewish people united in observance, and are waved in prayer for a blessed harvest. The presence of older men in prayer shawls behind him, also holding the Lulav, emphasizes the transmission of tradition across generations.

May the blessings and joy (Z'man Simchateinu) of the season remain with you until we dwell in the Sukkah again next year. Chag Sameach!

Artwork: Untitled (Boy with Etrog and Lulav) by Elias T. Kanarek, 1960. Oil on slate. . 77-130

10/01/2026

We had a great time sharing info about research opportunities, exhibitions, and upcoming programs at the Magnes with UC Berkeley students at the Arts & Humanities Open House today!

09/29/2026

Fall semester at the Magnes has officially begun!

Check out What's On in our September newsletter:
🗞️ Read about the debut of the museum's newest exhibition, "Nancy Lee Katz: A Private Pantheon."
🗞️ Watch a video of the panel discussion on Katz's photography,
🗞️ Check out upcoming programs including "Other" with Tony Award winner, Ari'el Stachel, Gallery Tours, and a special Gallery Concert during Homecoming Weekend.

🔗 Find the issue at https://mailchi.mp/berkeley/magnes-newsletter-sept-2026

Get the latest news from the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life in our September 2026 What's On issue!