Yeshiva University Museum

09/06/2023

Collector’s Tour of “The Golden Path: Maimonides Across Eight Centuries – Featuring Highlights from the Hartman Family Collection of Manuscripts and Rare Books”
Monday, September 11, 2023, 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm
Join Collector Robert Hartman for a guided tour of "The Golden Path: Maimonides Across Eight Centuries," illuminating the life and impact of the multifaceted luminary and great Jewish sage across continents and cultures through rare manuscripts and books. Exhibition highlights include manuscripts in Maimonides’s own handwriting, a carved 11th century door to the Torah ark from Cairo’s Ben Ezra Synagogue, and beautifully illuminated medieval manuscripts.

Robert Hartman, a prominent Chicago-based business and lay leader, has amassed a wide-ranging collection of manuscripts and rare printed Maimonidean material over the past twenty-five years.

Free admission but reservations are required. For reservations, please email [email protected]. Limited space.

09/06/2023

Collector’s Tour of “The Golden Path: Maimonides Across Eight Centuries – Featuring Highlights from the Hartman Family Collection of Manuscripts and Rare Books”
Sunday, September 10, 2023, 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm
Join Collector Robert Hartman for a guided tour of "The Golden Path: Maimonides Across Eight Centuries," illuminating the life and impact of the multifaceted luminary and great Jewish sage across continents and cultures through rare manuscripts and books. Exhibition highlights include manuscripts in Maimonides’s own handwriting, a carved 11th century door to the Torah ark from Cairo’s Ben Ezra Synagogue, and beautifully illuminated medieval manuscripts.

Robert Hartman, a prominent Chicago-based business and lay leader, has amassed a wide-ranging collection of manuscripts and rare printed Maimonidean material over the past twenty-five years.

Free admission but reservations are required. For reservations, please email [email protected]. Limited space.

09/06/2023

Collection item of the week: book of charity stamps for the Great Charity Clothing Fund. Its goal was to provide clothing and shoes to the poor Rabbis, unfortunate children, and destitute orphans of the Great Charity Institutions. The back cover wishes the recipient "Happy and Prosperous New Year"

08/30/2023

Collection item of the day: an early photograph of the school building at Degania

08/21/2023

Collection item of the week: needlepoint depicting Joseph introducing his father to Pharaoh.

08/21/2023

Exhibition Tour of "The Golden Path: Maimonides Across Eight Centuries"
Sunday, August 27, 2023, 11:00 am – 11:45 am
Join YUM’s Director of Museum Education Ilana Benson for a guided tour of "The Golden Path: Maimonides Across Eight Centuries," illuminating the life and impact of the multifaceted luminary and great Jewish sage across continents and cultures through rare manuscripts and books. Exhibition highlights include manuscripts in Maimonides’s own handwriting, a carved 11th century door to the Torah ark from Cairo’s Ben Ezra Synagogue, and beautifully illuminated medieval manuscripts.

Free admission but reservations are required. Free admission but reservations are required. For reservations, please email [email protected]. Limited space.

08/18/2023

Collector’s Tour of “The Golden Path: Maimonides Across Eight Centuries – Featuring Highlights from the Hartman Family Collection of Manuscripts and Rare Books”
Monday, August 21, 2023, 2:00 pm – 2:45 pm
Join Collector Robert Hartman for a guided tour of "The Golden Path: Maimonides Across Eight Centuries," illuminating the life and impact of the multifaceted luminary and great Jewish sage across continents and cultures through rare manuscripts and books. Exhibition highlights include manuscripts in Maimonides’s own handwriting, a carved 11th century door to the Torah ark from Cairo’s Ben Ezra Synagogue, and beautifully illuminated medieval manuscripts.

Robert Hartman, a prominent Chicago-based business and lay leader, has amassed a wide-ranging collection of manuscripts and rare printed Maimonidean material over the past twenty-five years.

Free admission but reservations are required. For reservations, please email [email protected]. Limited space.

08/14/2023

check out podcasts and videos on The Golden Path:
1. Seforimchatter Podcast: https://seforimchatter.buzzsprout.com/1218638/13349919-with-dr-david-sclar-discussing-the-rambam-exhibit-at-the-yu-museum-accompanying-volume
2. 18Forty Podcast (a series of videos that are still being uploaded): https://www.youtube.com//videos
3. Sparks of History (a series of videos): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQ3yZ3p2XKTZT5P9d-NtuNTCusJ1xbVda
4. Sarajevo Haggadah Newsletter: https://sarajevohaggadah.substack.com/p/from-moses-to-moses-none-arose-like?utm_source=substack&publication_id=1675294&post_id=135866003&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=true

08/11/2023

Our Maimonides exhibition made Mosaic's Editors' Picks August 10, 2023

The Golden Path.

08/08/2023

Museum Director's Tour of “The Golden Path: Maimonides Across Eight Centuries”
Thursday, August 10, 2023, 6:00 pm – 6:45 pm
Join YUM’s Director Gabriel Goldstein for a guided tour of The Golden Path: Maimonides Across Eight Centuries, illuminating the life and impact of the multifaceted luminary and great Jewish sage across continents and cultures through rare manuscripts and books. Exhibition highlights include manuscripts in Maimonides’s own handwriting, a carved 11th century door to the Torah ark from Cairo’s Ben Ezra Synagogue, and beautifully illuminated medieval manuscripts.

Free admission but reservations are required. For reservations, please email [email protected]. Limited space.

07/19/2023

Collection items of the week: wedding gown of Bessie Bardin who married Israel Salwan in March 17, 1909 in New York.

07/19/2023

Museum Director's Tour of "The Golden Path: Maimonides Across Eight Centuries"
Thursday, July 20, 2023, 6:00 pm – 6:45 pm
Join YUM’s Director Gabriel Goldstein for a guided tour of "The Golden Path: Maimonides Across Eight Centuries," illuminating the life and impact of the multifaceted luminary and great Jewish sage across continents and cultures through rare manuscripts and books. Exhibition highlights include manuscripts in Maimonides’s own handwriting, a carved 11th century door to the Torah ark from Cairo’s Ben Ezra Synagogue, and beautifully illuminated medieval manuscripts.

Free admission but reservations are required. For reservations, please email [email protected]. Limited space.

06/08/2023

Collection item of the week: Wedding band. Artist: Albert Dov Sigal (1912-1970). Gold; enamel. Gift of Rose Sigal Ibsen

06/01/2023

Collection items of the week: wedding gown and photograph of Bessie Bardin who married Israel Salwan in March 17, 1909 in New York.

05/22/2023

Collection item of the day: Shavuot page from Hageinu (Our Festivals), NY ca. 1928, illustrated by Ze’ev Raban (1890-1970).

05/18/2023

Come visit our new exhibition, "The Golden Path: Maimonides Across Eight Centuries" to see our portrait of Maimonides by Arthur Szyk as well as items from the Cairo Genizah written in Maimonides' own hand, part of an 11th century Torah Ark door from Cairo, and fabulous illuminated manuscripts.

02/05/2023

GALLERY CONCERT: Israeli Song & Art – from A to Z
Monday, February 13, 2023, 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Popper Gallery
Join Elad Kabilio of MusicTalks for a program of music ranging from Klezmer to classical, from piyyut and poetry to Israeli pop music. Elad, on cello, will be accompanied by virtuoso clarinetist Avigail Malachi and mezzo soprano Inbar Goldmann as they tour the exhibition: From A(gam) to Z(aritsky): Highlights of Israeli Art from Yeshiva University Museum’s Collection.

Please note: Tickets must be purchased in advance.

Cellist Elad Kabilio and MusicTalks performers present Israeli music in a gallery of Israeli art

01/31/2023

This beautiful silver pendant, made by Israeli artist Ze'ev Raban, depicts the prophetess Miriam dancing after the splitting of the Red Sea. Posted by Yitzhak Graff.

10/24/2022

Have you read Paula Jacobs article about wimpels in Tablet Magazine October 19th, illustrated by three examples from our collection? https://bit.ly/3TQwU5v

10/06/2022

Collection item of the week: Flag for Simhat Torah. Maker: I. Block. France, ca. 1930. Paper.

08/08/2022

The Gnat Who Tormented Titus With illustration by Mark Podwal
For , a previously unpublished poem by the Jewish literary giant By Cynthia Ozick
Read Article:

For Tisha B'Av, a previously unpublished poem by the Jewish literary giant

08/01/2022

On the 9th of Av, lithograph by Shoshana Neuman, Israel, 1976, Collection of YU Museum

This print depicts children playing in a synagogue. Upon the back wall hangs an image of people praying at the western wall. On the right hand side of the image a tombstone shaped board is partially within frame with the words, “9th of Av, 5741, Chernovitz” visible.
Neuman grew up in the (then) Romanian city of Czernowitz. The N***s invaded the city on July 5, 1941 (less than a month before Tisha B’av) when she was just nine years old. She and her family were deported in October of the same year and were forced to march across Transnistria to the Bershad Ghetto. Only Shoshana and her mother lived to see the Soviet Liberation of Bershad in 1944. Neuman moved to Israel in 1950 and began to paint her memories in 1970.
This piece is likely autobiographical, depicting a happy moment before the N**i occupation of Czernowitz.

Yitzhak Graff, YU Museum Student Assistant

03/13/2022

01/14/2022

חברי: ספר למוד הקריאה והכתיבה לשנת הלמודים הראשונה
“My Friend: A Primer for Learning to Read and to Write For the First Grade”, by A. Ashman and Y. Peled

This 1946 book was published in Jerusalem and contains a children's song for Tu Bi’Shvat, the new year of the trees. The song, “Tu Bi-Shvat Has Arrived” announces the arrival of the festival by describing the awakening nature in the Land of Israel. The almond trees are beginning to bloom while the sun is shining once again. And birds sing along with the children, greeting the rebirth of the land. The picture above the lyrics depicts children with shovels and plants, ready to cultivate the ground and help it prosper. This scene is reminiscent of the larger Zionist dream of reconnecting young Jews with the soil of the land. Also illustrated is a boy who waves a flag with the Star of David - a reference to the importance of nature and the cultivation of the land to the Zionist movement.
Post by Erica Sultan, Research Associate, Rabbi Arthur Schneier Program for International Affairs at Yeshiva University

01/04/2022

Collection item of the week: portrait of Sarah Miriam Solis Carvalho (1824-1894) by her husband, Solomon Nunes Carvalho (1815-1897), Baltimore, ca. 1845-1850. Gift of Daniel Friedenberg. This is an intimate, informal portrait, probably done shortly after the couple were married in 1845. It shows the bride in an informal robe or negligee, she is not even wearing a corset! Her hair hangs loosely rather than being formally arranged, and she displays her wedding ring to the viewer.

12/31/2021

Collection item of the week: An aged Father Time reaches towards a winged child, the spirit of the new year, in this New Year's greeting card produced by the Williamsburg Art Co., New York, ca. 1920. The Abraham and Debra Karp Collection of Yeshiva University Museum

12/21/2021

Collection items of the week: a 1918 oil portrait of Elias Rothstein (1873-1932), an actor in the Yiddish theater; a tefillin bag with his initials; and a photograph of Rothstein in the costume of a Roman soldier, taken in Boston, dated 1896.

12/21/2021

Fascinating post from our colleague, Shulamith Berger, Curator of Special Collections at YU's Gottesman Library.

Chanukah, the holiday of lights, is associated with historic Jewish battles, bravery, and the renewal of the Temple in Jerusalem; a joyous time for children to play dreidel and enjoy Chanukah gelt and gifts. In the aftermath of the Second World War, Chanukah gelt needed to serve other purposes: to h...

12/14/2021

Collection item of the week: a haunting snow scene photographed by Anton Hollander, ca. 1950. Is the man with his back to us the photographer himself?

12/10/2021

Collection item of the week: Renee and Chaim Gross greeting card sent to Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Gartlir and other friends in 1979. Instead of choosing a holiday theme, Chaim Gross depicted the three Graces. This is a motif found in the Primavera (1470s or 1480s) by Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli (ca. 1445-1510) and in a Roman wall painting from Pompeii (ca. 1st century C.E.).

12/03/2021

Hanukkah Lamp
The Max Stern Collection of Yeshiva University Museum

This Hanukkah lamp hails from Krakow, Poland, and was created in 1845, its silversmith unknown. Its artistry embodies the essence of the Hanukkah story - Jewish resilience. Lions guard the luchot (tablets) while flowers blossom around them, indicating that life stems from G-d’s words. More lions are used as the oil lamps. The wicks would have protruded through their mouths, implying that from physical strength, like that of a lion’s, and through a voice which roars, light will be shown. This light is even further guarded with pillars and chains, promoting the idea once again that Jews are protected, just as they were in the second century BCE.

Post by Erica Sultan, Research Associate, Rabbi Arthur Schneier Program for International Affairs at Yeshiva University

12/02/2021

Hanukkah, painted by Mathilde Hahn Meyer, late 19th/early 20th century
Collection of Yeshiva University Museum, gift of Hilda Meyer

Born in Göttingen, Germany in 1861, Meyer produced a collection of still-life art, portraying Jewish holidays. In this painting, one can see the usual Hanukkah artifacts: a lit Menorah and a dreidel. Also present are a bouquet of roses, a single card, and a coffee pot with a mug - all emblematic of life, as the roses bloom, the card seems to be in use for a game due to its upright position, and the mug is not full. This piece connects pre-World War I Jews to Jews all around the world today, showing the resilience of Jewish traditions. You can find more of her work at the YU Museum.

Post by Erica Sultan, Research Associate, Rabbi Arthur Schneier Program for International Affairs at Yeshiva University

11/29/2021

Collection item of the week: Hanukkah Lamp depicting David and Goliath by Eva Samuel (1904-1984) made at her Kad va-Sefel studio in Rishon LeZion ca. 1965, gift of David Michaels. Happy Hanukkah!

11/01/2021

Yeshiva University Professor Steven Fine and his Stern College students visited the YU Museum for a special session with objects from the Museum's collection including a 5th century C.E. tombstone from Zoar.

10/24/2021

Collection item of the week: At the Yeshiva by Albert Dov Sigal (1912-1970), an expert enamellist who adapted the ancient medium into a modern art form

10/01/2021

With autumn here, how many of you are planning winter vacations? This matchbook cover in our collection shows some of the diversions available around 1960 at the Hotel Brunswick in Lakewood, New Jersey.

09/01/2021

Scraps were the Victorian version of today'sstickers. This charming example in our collection depicts a woman making her selection from a peddlar's Rosh Hashanah cards.

08/26/2021

Today's collection item is a 1951 stained glass window from a synagogue, designed by Ilya Schor (1904-1961) that is very different from the naive style of his paintings, drawings and metalwork.

08/17/2021

Collection item of the week: Fire Island Summertime by Ruth Abrams (1912-1986), oil on canvas paper, 1982.

05/16/2021

Chag Shavuot Sameach! Happy Shavuot!

Photograph of the interior of the synagogue in Neckarbischofsheim decorated for Shavuot, Germany, ca. 1930
Collection of Yeshiva University Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ludwig Jesselson