Exhibition "People of the Book": Religious Culture of the Jewish People

About exhibition

The exhibition introduces the traditional material world of Eastern European Ashkenazi Jews who lived in the 19th–early 20th centuries in the western territories of the Russian Empire. On display are copies of the Talmud and the Torah, a Torah mantle and crown, as well as rimonim — finials used to decorate the sacred scrolls in which they were kept in synagogues, jeweler-made pointers necessary for reading them, and other Judaica used both for synagogue services and for performing religious rites. Special attention is given to items required in the rituals of major Jewish holidays such as Sukkot, Passover, Hanukkah and others, many of which are works of Jewish decorative and applied art. The exhibition also shows objects and photographic materials related to the religious upbringing and education of Jewish children, which, together with the other exhibits, serves one of its main aims — inclusion in a tour program introducing the basics of world religions and intended for younger and middle-school children. The exhibition features at least 30 items from the 19th–early 20th centuries from the collection of the Russian Ethnographic Museum.