Cycles of Jewish Life Creating cultural context for museum pieces in a digitized environment
Nurit Bank Head of the Isidore and Anne Falk Information Center for Judaica and Jewish Ethnography Walter Benjamin, the well-known philosopher, writes in 1936,in his book, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction about the loss of the "Aura" of the authentic object in the age of mechanical reproduction. "The technique of reproduction detaches the reproduced object from the domain of tradition." Today, in the era of digitization, our main task must be to rediscover, and as a result to enrich, expand and deepen the "Aura" of the authentic object. This can be achieved specifically, by re-creating its cultural context within a digitized environment. The Israel Museum holds one of the most comprehensive collections of Judaica and Jewish Ethnography in the world, numbering over 25,000 unique objects from Jewish communities around the world, dating from the 13th century up until today, and a photographic archive, which also holds approximately 25,000 rare photographs of community and family life, Synagogues, and ceremonial objects. Both the original objects and the archives were collected and assembled by the meticulous fieldwork of dedicated staff over many decades. Every object has its story, its hidden secrets, and its cultural and aesthetic attributes. The Isidore and Anne Falk Information Center has taken upon itself the task of revealing some of the authentic meanings of the original objects, by creating the cultural context of these objects in a digitized environment. Our vision of the complete project is to have the full collection in its cultural context available for public view on the computer. Our aim is to enrich the understanding of the object's Jewish content, the ideas and traditions reflected in it. Different to the art-historical approach, that focuses on the aesthetic, iconographic and historic elements of an object, the elements of cultural context are the following: 1) understanding where and when is this object used, 2) what is the philosophical and textual background for its specific shape, form, decoration and use, 3) how was the object used, 4) what made this specific object interesting, important and meaningful, 5) what is the personal story behind the object, who made it, who collected it, how did it get to the museum, 6) what was done, said and sung while using this object, 7) and how is it used today? Cycles of Jewish Life, an interactive virtual exhibition is the first completed project developed in the Center. The idea was to focus on 300 objects from the collections, revealing the ideas, ceremonies, stories and traditions behind them, and thus attempting to create a lively understanding of aspects of Jewish Life and culture. We have created a virtual environment where these objects can be viewed within their cultural context. In order to create this desired cultural context, a few decisions were made. A "sand clock " structure built from two conceptual Inverted pyramids connecting at their summits with the focal point of connection being the object. The top pyramid
Wide cultural information to narrow Narrow cultural information to wide
The object 1) The navigation tools of the program are built on cultural perimeters: from wider cultural terms to narrower ones. 2) The authentic museum object is the focal point of the entire project. 3) When learning more about the object, the information starts with specific information and goes to wider cultural information (comparisons, video, music, written Jewish sources. The basic navigational tool of this virtual exhibition was to choose one of two main cycles: The Cycle of the Year, and The Life Cycle. These cycles are well known in the research field of Jewish Art and Anthropology studies, and are reflected in the permanent exhibition of the Judaica and Jewish Ethnography Wing of the Museum. This was done in order to approach the object through the wide cultural context. Within each of these main cycles, more specific topics were defined. The Cycle of the Year includes 20 major Jewish festivals, and the Life cycle includes about 10 passage ceremonies. Each one of these topics has a short introduction, discussing the main aspects, ceremonies, history and traditions related to it. Then, the main topics are divided further into sub-topics, some of them accompanied by additional explanatory texts. For example, within the cycle of the year, the Sabbath is one of the topics. A general introduction about the "day of rest" can be read. The sub-topics include major ceremonies such as candle lighting, the blessing over the wine, the Shabbat table, the synagogue and the Havdala, the ceremony held at the end of the Sabbath. Within the topic of candle lighting, one can choose to view categories such as special head-coverings, candlesticks or hanging Shabbat lamps. It is clear to the viewers that these objects are used in the context of this specific day in the cycle of the year. Now, after the viewers have experienced through the computerized navigation the cultural placing, it is time to enter the specific object. Each object in the program is accompanied with various kinds of research tools and material. Every object has a small-digitized photograph that can be viewed in detail, either by a general zoom-in, or by an interactive magnifying glass. Every object is accompanied by an index card including the basic information about the object (name, place, date, material, bibliography) and a curatorial text, written by the curators, discussing the aesthetic, historic and ceremonial aspects of the objects. Many objects are accompanied by another kind of text, a direct quotation from ancient biblical, halachic or, kabbalistic source, or from modern poetry and literature. This text enables the viewer to connect to specific cultural aspects, and allows for the imagination and free thinking of the user. Authentic recordings from the music archives of the National Library accompany many of the objects, adding the audio experience to the visual one and thus enriching it. Short Video films add invaluable information to the objects on display, sometimes emphasizing their historical context, while on other occasions providing information on the people who created them, or the ceremonies in which they were used. Last but not least, archival photographs, oil paintings and other museum objects are linked to the main objects as comparative material that reveals the actual usage of the objects in their authentic framework. (An archival photograph of a bride wearing her wedding dress sheds a different, more personal light on the actual large dress on display.) Each topic includes objects ranging from different geographical areas, made in different periods of time, in different materials and styles. This is the fascination of Jewish culture, one nation, many faces - a nation that survived 2000 years of exile, with small communities dispersed in the four corners of the world, often with little direct communication between them, influenced by the surrounding cultures, but somehow maintaining a unified Jewish culture and identity. This multi-faceting within the unifying structure is one of the main narratives implied through this virtual exhibition. Other projects in different stages of development worked on in the Isidore and Anne Falk Information Center are: 1/The Jewish Wardrobe - a Multimedia presentation, exhibited in the permanent exhibition on this topic. The program fills in historical and cultural material that cannot be displayed. The program includes a time-line and a world-map. 2/From the four corners of the earth, synagogue postcards from the Gecelter collection. 3/The shadur papercut archive 4/The page turning program In all programs the idea is inserting the specific object within a wider cultural context.
