The two-floor exhibition explores the dynamic interaction between continuity and change within Jewish history and culture, and includes close to 800 works from the Museum’s outstanding collection of 28,000 works of art, antiquities, ceremonial objects and electronic media materials. The newly reinstalled 3rd floor alone includes close to 400 works from the 16th century to the present, and also features a number of important loans from public and private collections in Belgium, England, and the United States.

This reinstallation of the Museum’s permanent exhibition, originally mounted in 1993, has been implemented in two parts. The 4th floor galleries were reinstalled in 2000. This is the second and final phase of the reinstallation project. The 3rd floor exhibition galleries will be accompanied by two new thematic, random access audio guides made possible by Bloomberg.

Designed as a dynamic experience, the entire exhibition comprises four principal sections: Forging an Identity (c. 1200 BCE-c. 640 CE), which describes the transformation in ancient times from Israelite to Jew and the evolution of the Jews as a people with distinctive customs, rituals, and institutions; Interpreting a Tradition (c. 640-c. 1800), which begins on the 4th floor and continues on the 3rd floor, and explores the vitality and diversity of Jewish life in the Diaspora; and Confronting Modernity (c.1800-1948), which considers how, beginning in the 18th century, Jewish life was transformed by its encounter with modernity. A final section, Realizing a Future: Contemporary Voices, brings the visitor to the present with a look at contemporary art and various expressions of Jewish identity today.

Elements of the reinstallation include a greater emphasis on the global nature of the story; the objects seen to better advantage through changes in lighting and graphic design; the story clarified through redesign of galleries and cases, and changes in objects and works of art; and new videos added, all to create a more dramatic and evocative experience. The more open style of the reinstallation has also allowed the curators to put on display additional works from the collection that had not been included previously.

Highlights include: a pair of silver Torah finials from Breslau, Germany (1792-93) reunited at The Jewish Museum after sixty years of separation; paintings by such artists as Max Weber, Moritz Daniel Oppenheim, Isidor Kaufmann, Morris Louis, Ken Aptekar, and Deborah Kass; prints by Ben Shahn and El Lissitzky; and sculptures by Chana Orloff and Hannah Wilke. A new, more diverse, display of 38 Torah ornaments allows the viewer to compare artistic styles from different parts of the world. It features lavishly decorated Torah crowns, pointers, finials and shields from Afghanistan, Algeria, Austria, England, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Ottoman Empire (Greece and Turkey), Georgia (of the former Soviet Union), Morocco, Israel, Italy, early 20th century Palestine, Persia, Poland, Russia, Tunisia, the United States, and Yemen. Leonard Baskin’s 1977 sculpture, The Altar (based on the biblical story of the sacrifice of Isaac), considered the artist’s greatest carving, will be on view for the first time since 1986. Visitors will also be able to see George Segal’s 1982 work, The Holocaust.

The “New Directions” gallery of the Confronting Modernity section includes two completely new features. A wall of photographs from the Museum’s collection will address, on a rotating basis, aspects of Jewish life after World War II. The initial group of photographs to be shown, gathered under the topic of “History and Memory,” examines how the Holocaust and the founding of the modern State of Israel are remembered. Another wall in the “New Directions” gallery features five video monitors showing television excerpts from the collection of The Jewish Museum’s National Jewish Archive of Broadcasting. The television excerpts range from David Ben-Gurion declaring the independence of the State of Israel in 1948 to Abraham Joshua Heschel and Martin Luther King, Jr. in Alabama in 1965 to Adam Sandler singing part of The Hanukkah Song.

Culture and Continuity: The Jewish Journey examines a question that has long intrigued Jews and non-Jews alike: How has Judaism been able to thrive for thousands of years across the globe, often in difficult and even tragic circumstances? Culture and Continuity examines this question primarily through objects and texts. Objects reflect the different ways Jews have expressed their sense of what it means to be Jewish throughout their history. Texts have been the prime element of continuity in the evolution of the Jewish experience. Jews have been able to sustain their identity by adapting to life in different countries, cultures, and religious contexts. Survival as a people has depended upon both the continuity of Jewish ideas and values and the flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances.

The exhibition traces the dynamic interaction among three catalysts that have shaped the Jewish experience: Jews’ constant questioning and reinterpretation of their own traditions; the interaction of Jews and Judaism with other cultures; and the impact of historical events that have transformed Jewish life.

By entering this exhibition each visitor will be joining a debate that is as pertinent in today’s world of rapid change, cultural interaction, and challenges to tradition as it has always been for defining the meaning of Jewish life.

Culture and Continuity: The Jewish Journey was originally organized in 1993 by a curatorial team led by Emily Bilski. The reinstallation in 2000 of the 4th floor galleries was organized by project director Fred Wasserman, Associate Curator, The Jewish Museum, with Dr. Susan L. Braunstein, Curator of Archaeology and Judaica, The Jewish Museum. The current reinstallation of the 3rd floor galleries was organized by project director Claudia Nahson, Associate Curator of Judaica, The Jewish Museum. The reinstallation has been designed by Robin Parkinson of Exhibition Art & Technology, and the lighting created by lighting designer Don Holder, who received a Tony Award for his lighting of the Broadway show, The Lion King.

Visitors will be able to hear the entire exhibition in a random access audio guide, and also enjoy a “Director’s Highlights” audio guide featuring Joan Rosenbaum, Helen Goldsmith Menschel Director of The Jewish Museum, in conversation with Brian Lehrer, host of WNYC Radio’s The Brian Lehrer Show. The audio guides have been produced in association with Antenna Audio, Inc. and are free to visitors with Museum admission. The audio guides are made possible by Bloomberg.

The reinstallation of the 3rd floor of Culture and Continuity: The Jewish Journey has been funded by capital appropriations provided by the Office of the Mayor and the New York City Council.