Contemporary Jewish Museum

08/26/2026

Learning can be better together! 👯Havruta—a Jewish practice in which two people study Jewish texts in pairs—makes learning a communal activity. A past exhibition series at The CJM applied this idea to art, pairing artists and scholars to work on collective projects. During back-to-school season, explore the magic of this tradition and find out how learning together can open up new possibilities for discovery and connection. Read reflections on havruta and its role in art from two curators at

The Contemporary Jewish Museum's (CJM) Associate Curator Lily Siegel and Curatorial Associate Claire Frost sat down to discuss working with artists and looking at contemporary art. In That Case: Havruta in Contemporary Art is an ongoing exhibition program at The CJM that encourages learning through....

08/21/2026

"What, me worry?" (relatable). This is just one question raised by "Are We There Yet? 5,000 Years of Answering Questions with Questions"—an exhibition by artists Ken Goldberg and Gil Gershoni that celebrated the art of asking questions as a central part of Jewish tradition and culture. Take a look back at the exhibition and accompanying curriculum guide to explore questions about topics ranging from the Talmud to pop culture. Read at the link-in-bio, and explore how asking questions can enrich our lives.

Are We There Yet? was an original media art installation in the Museum's Yud Gallery by Bay Area artists Ken Goldberg and Gil Gershoni that celebrated inquisitive impulse. An immersive sound environment, the installation posed questions from a variety of sources including the Talmud, literature, and...

08/06/2026

"Art doesn’t always have to provide definitive answers. Sometimes it’s enough to create space for contemplation, meditation, dialogue, and to simply ask better questions."

Artist and filmmaker George Fok held his first solo exhibition at The CJM in 2022, which celebrated the singular voice and music of Leonard Cohen through an immersive audiovisual work. In our latest installment of the Four Questions, find out what he's working on today, how he finds inspiration, and his hot takes on Montreal's legendary Jewish food scene. Read at the

The Four Questions is a monthly series of short-form interviews in which we catch up with an artist we've previously gotten to know through their work at The CJM. This month, catch up with George Fok, a Montreal-based artist and filmmaker whose work spans photography, documentary film, moving image,...

06/29/2026

Art is an essential tool in preserving and processing our cultural history, from moments of joy to those of tragedy. This panel of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt—created by employees at Levi Strauss & Co.—offers one example of art's importance in collective mourning, identity, and strength. Visit thecjm.org/learn_resources/1079 to read about the history of this remarkable panel, as well as a pair of denim Torah mantles created for Congregation in a blog post from our archives.

This Pride Month, rediscover the story of two remarkable pieces of artwork that highlights art's importance in collective mourning, identiy, and strength. This article was originally published in conjunction with the 2020 exhibition Levi Strauss: A History of American Style, which featured a panel ...

06/22/2026

In 1967, thousands came together in the streets of San Francisco in a vibrant celebration of love and revolution—famously known today as the Summer of Love. But this iconic era didn’t come together in just one year; the Summer of Love was actually precipitated by a wave of social movements including the Hunter’s Point social uprising and the Compton’s Cafeteria riot, the precursor to the Stonewall uprising. Now that summer is in full swing, revisit our Sunday Story “The Summer Before the Summer of Love” to explore the history of one of the most iconic seasons of years past. Check it out at

06/18/2026

"My work as a Jewish artist is shaped by the values of tikkun olam (repairing the world), Jewish motherhood, honoring my parents’ lives, and a commitment to childhood education for a sound future. The Contemporary Jewish Museum has been a locus for artistic voices like mine, especially in the Bay Area. It is an essential home for contemporary Jewish art in our community." —Liz Lauter⁠
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Hear from the third artist in our recent special edition of our artist interview series! Liz Lauter is a San Francisco-based artist whose stunning ceramic artwork "Bride" was on view at The CJM in the "California Jewish Open." The work depicts Eve as a bride, wearing a representation of the Garden of Eden. She is characterized here as unsure, preparing to enter a relationship she is conflicted about. The sculpture celebrates natural beauty while also calling attention to how easy it is to objectify it.⁠
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Read more about Lauter and the other featured artists at

In honor of Jewish American Heritage Month 2026, we’re doing something a little different with our artist interview series! As we celebrate JAHM, we're reflecting on the artistic community that has and will continue to shape The Museum. Instead of one profile and four questions, we reached out t...

06/17/2026

We're proud to be celebrating Pride month! 🏳️‍🌈 In honor of the occasion, for the rest of the month we'll be exploring aspects of q***r culture in Jewish life and beyond. ⁠
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First up—did you know that Yiddish folklore and theater have a deep q***r history? From a drag king and Yiddish vaudeville singer in the 19th century to an iconic q***r Yiddish cafe in Scotland, explore new and old stories from our friends at the Yiddish Book Center, and find out how artists and activists today are continuing to expand this culture.

06/10/2026

"Going to The CJM was eye-opening and transformative for me as a young person. It meant a lot to see a space that not only valued a wide spectrum of Jewish artists, but highlighted their contributions to a wider semi-secular canon of cultural works. It still inspires me now as someone working in the Jewish arts veltelekh (world) to see such expansive interpretations of what Jewish work is and can be." —Forest Reid⁠
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Check out the second entry in our special edition Four Questions interview series, featuring artist Forest Reid reflecting on what The CJM means to him. Reid's artwork "Dreydl: Zol Zayn Mit Mazel" was featured in 2024's "California Jewish Open" at The CJM. This mystical slot machine connects twelfth-century Kabbalah—a system of Jewish mysticism—with video poker, the game of dreydl, and stories from American Jewish immigrants. The work aimed to recreate the multi-generational experience of stories being shared across the table during a game of dreydl and to foster curiosity into the wide-ranging history of Jewish games, storytelling, and text interpretation.⁠
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Visit thecjm.org/learn_resources/1078 to see all four artists' responses and learn more about them. ⁠
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🎨 Forest Reid, "Dreydl: Zol Zayn Mit Mazel," 2023. Courtesy the artist.

06/02/2026

From tales of golems to the land of milk and honey, Jewish folklore is full of beloved stories that have been passed down through generations. In the wake of Jewish American Heritage Month, we're asking how we carry the stories of the past into our lives today. Enter: our 2017 exhibition "Jewish Folktales Retold," which beautifully showcased how contemporary artists interpreted Jewish folk stories in a modern context. Flash back to the exhibition with these artist profile videos, each sharing one artist’s perspective on a folktale and its transformation. thecjm.org/learn_resources/1076

05/26/2026

"The CJM has been my Jewish home in San Francisco, deeply shaping my artistic practice. Its inclusive, community-centered approach welcomes diverse voices and engages the evolving complexity of Jewish life today. In this moment of transition, The CJM holds powerful potential to bring the Jewish community together in honoring heritage while engaging contemporary ideas and dialogue."⁠
—Beth Grossman⁠
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For this month's Four Questions interview series, we did something a little different! In honor of Jewish American Heritage Month, we asked four artists we've had the pleasure of working with just one question: why is The CJM meaningful to them? Read artist Beth Grossman's answer above, and visit thecjm.org/learn_resources/1078 to see all four artists' responses. ⁠
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🎨 Beth Grossman, "Murmuration" (detail), 2026. Courtesy the artist.