CalDay 2015 | Weekend Open Galleries

Magnes Collection of Jewish Life and Art 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA, United States

Special Weekend Opening on CalDay! April 18 & 19, 11AM-4PM ON VIEW THIS SPRING: The Future of Memory: Jewish Culture in the Digital Age What should we remember? What should we forget? And who decides? An innovative project that includes an installation, a museum exhibition, and a digital research lab in which museum professionals, scholars, […]

2015 Taubman Lecture Series

Magnes Collection of Jewish Life and Art 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA, United States

The Herman P. and Sophia Taubman Chair presents The 2015 Taubman Lectures with Professor Elchanan Reiner From Joshua to Jesus:  Three Chapters of the Galilean Jewish Foundational Myth   7pm  Tues, April 21        The Founder: On the Myth of Joshua in the Galilee 5pm  Thurs., April 23:    Sun in Givon, Samson in Galil: Rabbinic Literature Meets Local […]

PopUp Exhibition | Tom Laqueur on Museums and the Construction of Narrative

Magnes Collection of Jewish Life and Art 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA, United States

Creating a good exhibition generally depends on the ability of the curator and the museum staff to tell a good story. What is needed is not so much a variety of interesting objects as a definite focus on narrative, with which the audience can interact. Join Professor Thomas W. Laqueur (Helen Fawcett Professor of History, […]

Reflections on the Legacy of Nuremberg: the 70th Anniversary of The Nuremberg Trials

Magnes Collection of Jewish Life and Art 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA, United States

Program Schedule: 5:30 pm Reception 6:15 - 7:00 pm Film Screening – Nuremberg: Its Lesson for Today 7:00 - 8:00 pm Q & A with Sandra Schulberg, filmmaker and producer, and Richard Buxbaum, Professor of Law, UCBerkeley School of Law ______________________________________________________________________________________________ This conference is a two-day event with multiple locations and programs.  For event details, […]

2015 Taubman Lecture Series

Magnes Collection of Jewish Life and Art 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA, United States

The Herman P. and Sophia Taubman Chair presents The 2015 Taubman Lectures with Professor Elchanan Reiner From Joshua to Jesus:  Three Chapters of the Galilean Jewish Foundational Myth   7pm  Tues, April 21        The Founder: On the Myth of Joshua in the Galilee 5pm  Thurs., April 23:    Sun in Givon, Samson in Galil: Rabbinic Literature Meets Local […]

PopUp Exhibition | Filling in the Gaps: Reading the Bible With Commentaries

Magnes Collection of Jewish Life and Art 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA, United States

The Mikraot Gedolot are an edition of the Biblical text that juxtaposes the fully vocalized Hebrew text of the Bible with the commentaries of various Jewish exegetes, such as Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi) and Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra, published in Venice by Daniel Bomberg (1524-25). Editions of theMikraot Gedolot continue to be published to this […]

Botanical Zionism at the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life

Magnes Collection of Jewish Life and Art 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA, United States

Special Guest: Dana von Suffrin (LMU-Munich) Currently on view at The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life is the exhibition “The Secret Language of Flowers. Botanical Drawings from Israel, 1949-1950”. This exhibition is curated by Dr. Francesco Spagnolo. The exhibition displays the works of Shmuel (Samuel) Lerner (1890-1981), a Californian artist born in the […]

PopUp Exhibition | Helen Burke, the Artistry of Memory, and the Impermanence of Memorials

Magnes Collection of Jewish Life and Art 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA, United States

Helen Burke (1916-1997) was the artist-in-residence at the Swig Camp Institute, a sleep-away camp for teenagers operated by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (now known as the Union for Reform Judaism) in Saratoga, California. Ms. Burke taught generations of campers the art of metal sculpturing and welding. She inspired them to create a Holocaust […]

PopUp Exhibition | Andres Waissman & Gachi Prieto on Art, Memory, and Argentina

Magnes Collection of Jewish Life and Art 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA, United States

Join us for the 2015-2016 inaugural PopUp Exhibition, learn about this year’s program, and meet Argentine artist Andres Waissman (Buenos Aires, 1955), who will be interviewed by Buenos Aires gallerist, Gachi Prieto, about his work, and the role of art in contemporary Argentina. The presentation will be accompanied by the display of Waissman’s painting, La […]

Fall Exhibition Opening | Living by the Book: The Jewish Bible and the Everyday Power of Text

Magnes Collection of Jewish Life and Art 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA, United States

The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life cordially invites you to an opening reception for Living by The Book The Jewish Bible & the Everyday Power of Text Wednesday, September 9, 2015 at 5 pm 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley Jonah and the Whale at the Port of Haifa.jpg E. Abeshaus (1939–2008), Jonah and the […]

Depth of Field: Sephardic Identities on Screen | Toledo: El Secreto Oculto, Israel, 2008, 90 min.

Magnes Collection of Jewish Life and Art 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA, United States

Toledo: El Secreto Oculto Dir. Jack Matitiahu, Documentary. Israel, 2008. 70 min. The city of Toledo was famous for its rich cultural and historical heritage; a city in which three major cultures met, intertwined and enriched each other. The movie Toledo - the Hidden Secret is a meeting of the past and the present and […]

PopUp Exhibition | Noa Bar Gabai on Orientalism in Israeli Culture

Magnes Collection of Jewish Life and Art 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA, United States

Noa Bar Gabai is a doctoral candidate in Comparative Literature at UCLA. Her dissertation focuses on “Messianism and Masortiyut: The Poetics of Traditionalism in Mizrahi Hebrew”. In this PopUp Exhibition, Noa will put “orientalist” Jewish art and objects from Yemen and North Africa that are part of The Magnes Collection in conversation with her research. […]