Professional Documents
Culture Documents
T H E M AG N E S CO L L E C T I O N O F J E W I S H A R T A N D L I F E
-I-
T H E M AG N E S CO L L E C T I O N O F J E W I S H A R T A N D L I F E
Exhibition team
Curator: Francesco Spagnolo, PhD
Curatorial Assistant: Zoe Lewin
Undergraduate Curatorial Assistant: Sarah Klein
Registrar: Julie Franklin
Research: Gary Handman (Archivist); Sarah Klein, Lily Greenberg Call,
Natalie Rusnak, Clayton Hale, Liora Alban (Undergraduate Research
Apprentices)
Preparator: Ernest Jolly
Design: Gordon Chun Design
Acknowledgments
Major support for The Magnes comes from the Helzel Family Foundation, the Magnes Museum Foundation, The Magnes Leadership Circle,
and the The Office of the Chancellor at the University of California,
Berkeley.
Research for I-Tal-Yah: An Island of Divine Dew was made possible in
part by funds and resources provided by the Undergraduate Research
Apprentice Program (URAP) at the University of California, Berkeley.
[1]
[2]
A Linguistic Symbiosis:
Hebrew and Italian
Hebrew and Italian fully coexisted in the lives of the Jews of
Italy since the early modern period. Prayers, poetic works,
and communal records featured the multilingual character of Jewish life in the language as well as in the layout of
printed sources, which was often governed by the aesthetics
of the Italian printing press. These features soon became
popular among the network of Italian Jewish trade across
Europe and the Mediterranean, where Hebrew books and
poems were printed in Italian style.
1. Buonajuto Sanguinetti and Mois Formiggini
2. Anonymous
[3]
CASE B
[4]
Bible
2014.0.9.457
Singers Pulpit
2014.0.9.439
theBible
2014.0.9.440
[5]
6. Torah pointer
Italy, 15th century
Brass
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.9.1
9. Wedding ring inscribed in Hebrew with the wellwishing words, mazal tov
Italy or the Netherlands, 18th century
Gold
Gift of Peter J. Bickel, 83.66
six-pointed star
Italy, 19th century
Silver
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, 79.47.3 a-c
[7]
CASE C
3. Hanukkah lamp
Italy, 18th century
Brass
The Peachy and Mark Levy Family Judaica collection, 2015.6.2
4. Hanukkah lamp
Italy, 18th century
Copper alloy
Gift of Mrs. Beatrice Kirschenbaum, 71.43
5. Hanukkah lamp
Italy, 17th century
Brass repousse
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.4.47
6. Hanukkah lamp
Italy, 17th century
Cast brass
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.4.32
7. Hanukkah lamp
Italy, 16th century
Copper alloy
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.4.28
8. Hanukkah lamp
Brass
Italy, 17th century
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.4.23
[9]
9. Hanukkah lamp
Italy, 18th century
Cast brass, copper sheet backing
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.4.22 a-c
[10]
Rabbinic Authorities
Italian rabbis were educated in traditional schools, or
yeshivot. Beginning in the Renaissance, these schools found
a source of inspiration, and legitimacy, in the institutions of
the University. University graduates, or doctores, became a
model for Jewish religious leadership. Rabbis thus presented
themselves in society not only as religious authorities, but
also as scholars, translating the word, rabbi, into Latin as
doctor legis hebraicae. The combination of deep knowledge
in Jewish rituals and in secular culture that characterized
their lore made them sought after abroad. Many Italian
rabbis were hired by Jewish communities in North Africa,
the Eastern Mediterranean (Greece and Turkey), the
Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Several of them took
important leadership roles with the establishment of the
Napoleonic Sanhedrin, a Jewish assembly convened in Paris
in 1807 with the intent of creating binding ritual rules to be
followed by Jewish communities across Europe.
1. Louis-Franois Mariage (engraver), after a painting by
Marchand
Abraham de Cologna
French and Italian
Paris, France, [18261828]
Engraving on paper
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.10.8
[11]
CASE D
CASE E
[12]
7. hagadah le-pesach
Hebrew, Aramaic
Foggia, Italy, Jewish Transportation Unit 178 [British Armed Forces],
(April 1944)
Gift of Joseph Thaler, Haggadah collection 39.20
[13]
[14]
Manuscript set on seventeen columns, illustrated with copperplate engravings. The text (Ashkenazi square script) includes
the blessings recited before reading the Book of Esther in the
synagogue, and the complete biblical book, featuring a list of
the ten sons of Haman in larger script. The engravings at the
right of the scroll and beneath each column of text illustrate the
story of Esther in twenty-four panels.
Hebrew
Italy, 18th century
Silver repousse case, lace cut parchment, ink and pigment, silk
backing
The Peachy and Mark Levy Family Judaica collection, 2015.6.71
[15]
D R AW E R O N E
[16]
D R AW E R T WO
[17]
D R AW E R T H R E E
D R AW E R F O U R
[18]
Play (fragment)
Hebrew
n.d.
LIB 91.18.005
[19]
C H A R L E S M I C H A E L G A L L E RY
[20]
6. M. Daniel Passigli
[23]
[24]
Torah Binders
Torah binders are ritual textiles used to wrap the scrolls
of the Hebrew bible stored in a synagogue. In Italy, since the
early modern period, they were often created, and inscribed
by women. The inscriptions of the binders in The Magnes
Collection can be categorized according to three different
typologies, each revealing a different gender dynamic.
Young girls would create binders to celebrate family rituals;
brides would inscribe them to honor their future husbands;
and married women, who signed themselves with their
maiden names, would donate Torah binders to their community, thus revealing their participation (and social standing)
in communal affairs.
The Torah binders included in this exhibition were
purchased by the former Judah L. Magnes Museum
with funds provided by Stephen Rudman in memory of
Cynthia Rudman.
1. Mazal Tov Fano
Torah binder
Italy, 5518 (17571758)
Cotton with cotton embroidery floss and cotton lace
94.18.11
2. Nechamah Canton[i]
Torah binder
Italy, 5521 (17601761)
Cotton with cotton embroidery floss and cotton lace
94.18.6
3. [...] Gentili
[25]
Torah binder
[Mantua], Italy, [5]502 (17411742)
Cotton with cotton embroidery floss and cotton lace
94.18.12
5. Bella Sforno
Torah binder
Italy, 5510 (17491750)
Linen with silk embroidery floss and cotton lace
94.18.8
6. Laura Norzi
Torah binder
Italy, 2 Marcheshvan [5]506 (October 28, 1745)
Linen with silk embroidery floss and cotton lace
94.18.5
[26]
2. Tallit
Italy, Livorno, 17th century
Silk
Gift of Arnold Cassuto, 78.7.1
Prayer shawl with white floral pattern and fringe at its four
corners.
3. Tallit
Italy, 19th century
Silk
Gift of Alex Cassuto, 99.36.3
4. Tallit
Italy, Livorno, 17th century
Silk
Gift of Arnold Cassuto, 78.7.2
Blue and white silk shawl with embroidered flowers and the
monogram, A.C.
[27]
[28]
[29]