Jewish Ritual Art at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston

A new Judaica gallery at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston features the beautifully conceived and organized exhibition titled “Intentional Beauty: Jewish Ritual Art from the Collection.” Focusing attention on twenty-seven objects in various media, styles, and techniques from around the world, this exhibition highlights the value of material objects in understanding the people who created them and the culture and rituals for which they were used. Moreover, the display showcases the geographic and cultural diversity of Judaism as well as highlights key individuals who once made or owned these objects, such as the Ukrainian-born woodcarver Samuel Katz (1884-1953) or the philanthropic Sassoon family. 

The center of the room features five cases: an initial one with an eighteenth-century carved and partly gilded silver Torah shield meant to hang from a Torah scroll, and four others each with a pair of silver Torah finials (or rimmonim) that once adored the top ends of the Torah scroll. Dated between the seventeenth and the twentieth century, these finely crafted finials hail from different corners of the world, including Iran, Morocco, and Germany. They all exhibit a variety of decorative features, ranging from engraved or sculpted vegetal and architectural motifs, to gilding, inscriptions, and hanging bells. The latter are often found on these types of objects in order to draw the attention of the faithful to the word of God during rituals. 

Beyond the central cases, a large Torah ark (i.e., a cabinet that houses Torah scrolls) stands against the back wall. Dated to the early 1920s and hailing from the Shaarei Zion synagogue in the Boston suburb of Chelsea (a town itself known as “the Jerusalem of America”), this Torah ark features decorative elements—like the top crown, the lions to either side of the Tablets of the Law, the Stars of David, and the central hands in the blessing gesture—akin to those found in Eastern European synagogues. Framing the central Torah ark are fragments from other such Jewish cabinets from Boston-area synagogues that have been destroyed. The large, gilded lion on the right once belonged to the Torah ark of the Anshai Poland synagogue in Boston’s South End, which was dismantled when the building was demolished in 1957.  

In addition, the exhibition features other objects associated with the Torah: a long linen strip with lace inserts used to tie the scroll, likely produced in Venice, a Tik (i.e., a Torah case) made of wood and embossed in silver from Baghdad, and a Torah mantle from Austria. These rich objects demonstrate the value of the Torah for Jewish communities across the globe.   

Other ritual objects on display include a hanging lamp and candlesticks used for the celebration of the Sabbath, silver wine cups, spice containers, and other liturgical vessels, as well as vestments, such as a decorated silk headdress worn by married Jewish women (known as a gargush), and a silk fringed prayer shawl decorated with gold and silver thread worn by men for morning prayers (known as a tallit). Besides this luxurious prayer shawl is a 1919 painting of a Jewish man absorbed in the study of the Talmud—the only work in the museum’s collection donated by the Boston Jewish community. Known as The Talmudist, the painting was created in Boston by the Russian-born artist Jacob Binder (1887-1984).   

Enhancing the experience of viewing these objects and reading the informative texts, the exhibition features selections of melodies associated with the Jewish cultures represented in the gallery, interactive videos that help further contextualize the objects on display, as well as modern images that capture stories of destruction and hope. A print shows a man saving the Torah from the rubble of a destroyed synagogue in Germany in the fall of 1939, and a colorful oil-on-masonite painting from 1984 by the American artist Malcah Zeldis, depicting the Jewish ritual meal of the Passover Seder. In this vibrant composition, a family gathers around a table, ready to drink the wine, read the symbolic foods, and read the Passover story in their Haggadah. Just like the open books on the table, the opposite wall of the gallery displays in a glass case an actual Haggadah lithographic book, produced in India in the nineteenth-century. The book is open to show the Passover Seder, and its stained pages confirm its repeated use during this important ritual.   

The display of content related to Passover to either side of the entrance to the gallery bridges this threshold. One may begin exploring the exhibition either with the painting on the left, or the manuscript on the right, or, one could approach the content head on, beginning with the cases at the very center of the room. Whichever path is chosen, the story of Jewish ritual art emerges as complex, sensorially rich, full of memory, and intentionally beautiful.  

“Intentional Beauty” was mainly sponsored by The David Berg Foundation with additional support from other organizations and individuals invested in the preservation of Jewish heritage. The works on display demonstrate incredible craftmanship and visual delight while preserving “stories of exile, discrimination, even persecution—but also resilience, reinvention, and joy.” If you are in the Boston area, be sure to check out this special exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts—it is worth a visit!