CONTEMPORARY AND TRADITIONAL HANUKKAH LAMPS

Press Contacts:
Anne Scher/Alex Wittenberg
The Jewish Museum
212.423.3271
pressoffice@thejm.org

Press Release: December 11, 2006

CONTEMPORARY AND TRADITIONAL HANUKKAH LAMPS FROM RENOWNED COLLECTION AT THE JEWISH MUSEUM

New York, NY – To mark Hanukkah, a 19th-century silver synagogue Hanukkah lamp made in the Ukraine will be on view in The Jewish Museum’s Skirball Lobby from December 9 through 31, 2006. On December 10, 2001, this menorah became the first Hanukkah lamp to be kindled by an American President in the White House residence. The arms of this menorah-form lamp are decorated with buds and flowers, following the biblical description of the first seven-branch menorah made for the Tabernacle in the desert (Exodus 25:31). The flowers around the lower shaft suggest a comparison of the menorah to the Tree of Life. This year, Hanukkah begins at sundown on the night of Friday, December 15, 2006 and continues through sundown on Saturday, December 23, 2006.

In addition, visitors to The Jewish Museum enjoy a unique opportunity to sample selections from the largest, finest and most comprehensive collection of Hanukkah lamps in the world. The Museum’s permanent exhibition, Culture and Continuity: The Jewish Journey features a display of over 50 Hanukkah lamp from the 16th century to the present selected from its collection of over 1,000 Hanukkah lamps. Lamps on view come from Austria, Australia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, India, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Morocco, the Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, and the United States, and cover five centuries of artistic production. Many of the lamps are made from such traditional materials as copper, silver, and brass, but materials used also include ceramic, steel boilerplate, and one using souvenir Statues of Liberty. Examples of the two traditional forms of Hanukkah lamps - the menorah consisting of eight branches reaching upward from a central stem; and the bench lamp, a row of eight lights arranged horizontally with an attached backplate - are included in the display, along with unusual contemporary lamps.

Rabbinical requirements have posed only a few restrictions on the form of the Hanukkah lamp, with none on the manner of its decoration. This has allowed craftsmen great artistic freedom, often producing fantastical designs and shapes. Four major design categories are represented in the Museum's collection, including use of Jewish heroes and heroines (like Judith), architectural elements, animals (like the lion), and plants. The lamps can also incorporate Jewish symbols and secular motifs common in the decorative arts from the Renaissance to the present.

About The Jewish Museum

The Jewish Museum was established on January 20, 1904, when Judge Mayer Sulzberger donated 26 ceremonial art objects to The Jewish Theological Seminary of America as the core of a museum collection. Today, The Jewish Museum maintains an important collection of 25,000 objects - paintings, sculpture, works on paper, photographs, archaeological artifacts, ceremonial objects, and broadcast media. Widely admired for its exhibitions and educational programs that inspire people of all backgrounds, The Jewish Museum is the preeminent United States institution exploring the intersection of 4,000 years of art and Jewish culture.

General Information

For general information on The Jewish Museum, the public may visit the Museum’s Web site at http://www.thejewishmuseum.org or call 212.423.3200. The Jewish Museum is located at 1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street, Manhattan. Museum hours are Saturday through Wednesday, 11am to 5:45pm; Thursday, 11am to 8pm. Museum admission is $12.00 for adults, $10.00 for senior citizens, $7.50 for students , free for children under 12 and Jewish Museum members. Admission is free on Saturdays.

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CONTEMPORARY AND TRADITIONAL HANUKKAH LAMPS

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