The Israel Museum Jewish Life in the Diaspora Exhibits

by Ben Kressbach,       12th grade,        San Antonio

main entrance to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem

For the first two months of our experience in Israel, we traveled around the country, learning about all of the biblical and historical events that happened in Israel leading up to the destruction of the Second Temple. We analyzed different events through historical and rabbinical lenses, looking at the different ways the Jewish people have changed throughout their time in Israel.

This week, for the first time, we began to look at the Jews that created their own communities outside of Israel following the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and southern Israel. With our parents in tow, we packed our bags and headed to the Israel Museum, just across the street from the Knesset. 

As soon as we got to the museum, we visited various diaspora synagogues, deconstructed from their original homes and reconstructed inside the museum into a truly unique exhibit. From India to South America, these displays brought us through more than just the Sephardic and Ashkenazic cultures that are now the majority of what most people associate with the diaspora. 

The Synagogues

The Vittorio Venetto Synagogue

Interior of the Vittorio Venetto Synagogue with its baroque style Torah ark

This wealthy Italian synagogue originated in the year 1700, not far from Venice, the main port city in Italy during the Middle Ages. Complete with intricate golden floral designs, ornate chandeliers, and detailed baroque architecture, this synagogue displayed the immense wealth the Italian Jews that built it possessed. The symbol of the crown, a common decorative image in Christian Europe during the Middle Ages, also appears in multiple places across the synagogue. These Jewish-Italian merchants clearly took on many of the common Italian customs at the time, even making their synagogue resemble the reception room in an Italian aristocrat’s palace. 

The Kadavumbagam Synagogue

The Kadavumbagam synagogue was built in the 14th century in Cochin, a town along the southwestern coast of India. It took on many of the traits of Muslim mosques and Hindu temples in the nearby areas, including the intricately carved woodwork lining the ark, the readers’ platforms, and the ceiling, and the hanging lanterns. The Kadavumbagam synagogue utilized many elements from the surrounding Indian culture to help itself fit in, while also maintaining the fundamentals that allowed its members to stay Jewish.

The Tzedek V’Shalom Synagogue

When Europe colonized the New World, Pilgrims and Protestants weren’t the only people that voyaged across the sea. A select group of Dutch Sephardic Jews immigrated to the Dutch colonies in present-day South America, settling in one of South America’s only non Spanish-speaking countries: Suriname. Founded in 1736 in Paramaribo, Suriname’s capital, the Tzedek V’Shalom synagogue decided to do away with the intricate designs and woodwork many wealthy synagogues in Europe and the Middle East possessed, favoring a more simple and pure design. Similarly to many buildings in the area, the architecture was very simple, and all white. The only parts of the synagogue that strayed from this design were the ark and the lighting, and even then the woodwork and metalwork is relatively simple in comparison. One of the most astounding parts of this synagogue is the floor - it was completely covered in sand. The exact reason for this is unknown, but it is thought that it possibly served as a symbol of how Jews in the diaspora were spread out and constantly moving. This synagogue had the most room out of any of the ones we visited, and clearly showed the values of the Dutch Sephardic Jewish population that immigrated to South America.

The Horb Synagogue

The Horb synagogue, established in Bavaria (Southern Germany) in the 18th century, really distinguished itself from the other synagogues displayed at the Diaspora Museum. In addition to picturing images of lions, birds, and griffons, among a slew of floral designs on the painted walls and ceiling, this synagogue was made entirely of wood, and set up in a very basic and small truncated cylinder. This significant difference in design is likely due to the lack of resources in the area (other than wood), and the lack of wealth in the German-Jewish community as a whole. Despite the various depictions of animals and mythical creatures, there is Hebrew lettering painted across the whole synagogue. When it was discovered, it had been re-purposed as a barn, and the only reason it was discerned as a synagogue was the Hebrew lining the arched ceiling. 

Each of these synagogues has different traits reflecting the area in which it was established, from the varying architectural styles to the size and content of the decorations. However, these synagogues still have one thing in common: their Judaism. Regardless of the acculturation that took place in each of these places, every synagogue still read from the Torah, followed the Halacha (Jewish law), and prayed in Hebrew. Even as rabbinic Judaism was adapting to every new surrounding it encountered, it stayed unified through the core values every community kept. 

Artifacts & Dress

After the destruction of the Second Temple, Jewish communities began popping up in more prominence all throughout the world. With each new community came new traditions, and over time these traditions evolved and expanded into very many distinct cultural landscapes within the realm of Judaism. Everywhere Jews went, they found a way to distinguish themselves as Jewish while at the same time taking on many traits of the local cultures.

Dress

The main way most Jews distinguished themselves during this period was the way that they dressed. In some places, more commonly under Muslim rule than Christian, all men were required to wear the same thing. For example, in a Jewish community in Morocco, all men were required to wear a hooded cape called an akhnif (pictured). In order to stand out, Jews wore this garb inside out. In other areas, Jews wore combinations of different clothing styles, ranging from traditional coastal Moroccan styles to European folk outfits. In Europe, many Jews were forced to live in separate communities from the Christians, giving them a built-in distinction from the majority.

The Jewish Life Cycle

Another major exhibit in the diaspora section of the Israel Museum contained many artifacts showing the cultural diversity involving the different life cycle events, from birth to marriage, and even death. These artifacts ranged from cultural traditions to pieces that played a part in religious ceremonies, and showcased the variety of cultures in which Judaism settled during the diaspora. 

Pictured above is a sugar bowl, traditionally given to the bride by her mother during an Afghan-Jewish wedding. This bowl, along with others like it, symbolized the mother’s blessing over the wedding and her wish for the daughter to have a sweet marriage.

Every student and parent that experienced this tiyul went in with their own ideas of Jewish life in the diaspora, but the vast exhibits at the Israel Museum helped us all delve a little deeper into the far-reaching roots of Jewish diaspora communities other than the ones in North America. From their dress to the structure of their synagogues, and everything in between, Jewish communities across the globe found their own ways to adapt, while still largely maintaining the same fundamental Jewish identity that has held Judaism together all the way through 1948 and beyond, where the separate cultures originating during the diaspora continue to flourish and evolve. This serves only as a reminder to us all that the way we practice Judaism at our home communities will have a lasting impact on Judaism as a whole, and that our traditions, those things that truly make us unique both as individuals and communities, really do matter.