Chaya Benjamin, Osef Sṭiglits yetsiṿot mofet bʼamanut yehudit = The Stieglitz Collection: Masterpieces of Jewish Art The Israel Museum (Jerusalem: Israel Museum, 1987).
Watson Library recently received a gift from esteemed Judaica scholar and curator Cissy Grossman. Her generous gift, numbering 217 volumes, includes essential texts on Jewish art in the form of monographs, exhibition and auction catalogues, periodicals, manuscript facsimiles—including a selection of haggadot—as well as kettubot books.
Dr. Grossman, a curator and teacher of Jewish art for over seventy years, contributed to The Met's 1975 exhibition The Passover Story, an exhibition of manuscripts, incunabula, and other ritual objects made especially for use in the Jewish Home for the observance of the Passover Seder. The exhibition was held right outside Watson Library in the Vélez Blanco Patio, and featured objects on loan from the Jewish Theological Seminary and other important collections in New York City.
Among her books, Dr. Grossman wrote catalogue entries for the Judaica collection belonging to Congregation Emanu-El in New York City. She also authored The Collector's Room: Selections from the Michael and Judy Steinhardt Collection, and was assistant curator for The Jewish Museum's exhibition Fabric of Jewish Life: Textiles from the Jewish Museum Collection and contributing author of Fragments of Greatness Rediscovered: A Loan Exhibition from Poland.
Please enjoy below a selection of items from her gift that are currently on display in Watson Library.
Vivian B. Mann, ed., Gardens and Ghettos: The Art of Jewish Life in Italy (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989).
This exhibition catalogue traces the evolution of the Jewish community on the Italian peninsula from the Roman republic through the modern era. The works exhibited included the archaeological remains of an ancient synagogue, a violin with a Hebrew inscription, and paintings such as Serafino De Tivoli's La questua (Begging for Alms) from 1856 and Carlo Levi's Ritratto di Leone Ginzburg (Portrait of Leone Ginzburg) from 1933.
Ruth Eis, Ornamented Bags for Tallit and Tefillin: Of the Judah L. Magnes Museum (Berkeley: The Museum, 1984).
This exhibition catalogue celebrates Jewish folk art in the form of mostly handmade ornamented bags meant to contain a tallit (prayer shawl with fringes to remind one of the commandments of the Torah) and tefillin (also called phylacteries—a pair of small black leather boxes containing parchment scrolls with Torah verses inscribed) originating from North Africa, Europe, and Asia dating from the 1850s.
Fabric of Jewish Life: Textiles from the Jewish Museum Collection (New York: The Museum, 1977).
The 255 Jewish textiles from this exhibition catalogue include those associated with the Torah scroll, its ark and lectern; ceremonial fabrics, including an atarah (decorative panel); a wedding canopy, a dowry cloth and a cover for the Elijah chair; and textiles with popular iconography found in Jewish households, among which are devotions to Jewish landmarks in Jerusalem or to the commemoration of political events. This copy includes notes on the collection by Cissy Grossman and comments by Milton Sonday, whose research archive is currently on display in The Met's Antonio Ratti Textile Center.
Zvi Baras, Me'ah shanim shel sefarim: Bet ha-sefarim ha-le'umi ṿeha-universiṭa'i 652-752: ta'arukhat yovel = A Century of Books: The Jewish National & University Library,1892-1992: Centennial Anniversary Exhibition (Jerusalem: Jewish National and University Library, 1992).
This bilingual, historical exhibition catalogue of the Jewish National and University Library (JNUL), now known as the National Library of Israel (NLI), marked its first centennial. It describes the development of the library and how it attained its objective: to collect the cultural treasures of the Jewish people and bring them together in Jerusalem. Included are two haggadot by Joel ben Shimon and the Worms Mahzor, possibly from Wurzburg, 1272.
Left: Auction of Rare Antique Judaica: Radisson Martinique Hotel on Broadway (Cedarhurst, NY: J. Greenstein & Co. Date of sale: June 20, 2011). Right: Important Judaica: Books, Manuscripts, Works of Art and Paintings (Tel Aviv: Sotheby's Israel Limited, 1991 Date of sale: October 2, 1991).
The Greenstein auction catalogue features a range of silver ritual objects, including a mustache cup decorated with gold leaf, a megillah case (Scroll of Esther), and an etrog container holding the citrus medica and one of the “Four Species” that have a ceremonial use during Sukkot. J. Greenstein & Co. is the only auction house in the United States devoted to the sale of antique Jewish ritual objects and art.
The Sotheby's catalogue documents an important auction with 291 lots comprising ritual objects, printed books, manuscripts, and works of art including paintings by Samuel Hirszenberg (1865–1908), Moshe Castel (1909–1991), and Maurycy Gottlieb (1856–1879).
Fragments of Greatness Rediscovered: A Loan Exhibition from Poland (New York: Union of American Hebrew Congregations, ca. 1983).
This catalogue accompanied an exhibition curated by Cissy Grossman on the recovery of religious artifacts and Jewish art from Poland. The exhibition was the result of an historic agreement in 1981 between the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and the University of Warsaw that provided access to the salvaged art of Jewish life in Poland, much of which was confiscated, stolen, vandalized or melted down during World War II. The travelling exhibition, which featured 104 examples, was held at the Jewish Museum in New York City and the Skirball Museum in Los Angeles. A selection was sent to Canada and several cities in the US. The objects were returned to Warsaw for the fortieth anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, and then sent to the Museum of the Diaspora in Tel Aviv.
Artibus et Historiae: An Art Anthology (Vienna: IRSA, no. 17, 1988).
This issue features special essays in honor of the esteemed Judaica scholar Rachel Bernstein Wischnitzer (1885–1989). Born in 1885 in Minsk, Wischnitzer was one of the first women to become an architect. She was also the first female scholar to lay the foundation for the scholarly study of Jewish art and to place it within the context of world art.
Towers of Spice: The Tower-shaped Tradition in Havdalah Spiceboxes (Jerusalem: Israel Museum, 1982).
This catalogue of an exhibition featuring spice containers in a variety of forms includes fortified towers, animals, fruit, and flowers. The decorative boxes contain fragrant spices, called besamim in Hebrew, used in the havdalah ceremony that marks the end of Sabbath and Jewish festivals. The spices, which are handed around so that everyone can smell the fragrance, are often stored in decorative spice containers in order to beautify and honor the mitzvah.
The Eliyahu Dobkin Pavilion of Glass from Eretz Israel and Neighboring Countries (Jerusalem: Israel Museum, 1981).
Eliyahu Dobkin (1898–1976) was the former head of the Bezalel Museum, a founder of the Israel Museum, and a leader of the Labor Zionism movement. His collection of ancient glass, displayed here in vivid color illustrations, includes mosaic glass beads with human faces, bowls, bracelets, and bottles.
Left to right: Welcome to Beth Tzedec Synagogue, Toronto, Canada ([Toronto]: The Synagogue, ca. 1961). Abram and Frances Kanof Collection: Modern Ceremonial Objects, Catalogue (Washington, D.C.: B'nai B'rith Committee on Jewish Americana, 1958). Otto Böcher, Die alte Synagoge in Worms am Rhein (München: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 1988).
On the left is a brochure by the Beth Tzedec Synogogue, the largest Conservative Jewish congregation in North America. Featured in its banquet hall is a set of lithographs by Marc Chagall of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The twelve stained-glass windows in the Abbell Synagogue at the Hadassah University Medical Center (Jerusalem, Israel), designed by Chagall, are based on them.
In the center is an exhibition catalogue from a unique collection of contemporary Jewish ceremonial art that examines traditional versus modern Jewish objects. Questions raised in the introduction include "what is 'modern' or 'contemporary' or 'ceremonial' about these objects?" and, "are there differences in the past and present of Judaism?"
On the right is a pamphlet with German text featuring six illustrations on the history of the synagogue at Worms, which was rebuilt three times. The author, Otto Bocher (born 1935), was born the son of a deacon in Worms and is currently a German Protestant theologian and emeritus professor of New Testament in Mainz.
Left to right: Das Silber Böhmischer Synagogen (Prague: Das staatliche judische Museum in Prag, 1979). Musée d'art et d'histoire du Judaïsme Museum Guide (Paris: Le Musée, 1999). Vidosava Nedomački, Vezene tkanine iz jevrejskih zbirki u Jugoslaviji: izložba: Jevrejski istorijski muzej Saveza jevrejskih opština Jugoslavije—Beograd (Beograd: Savez jevrejskih opstina Jugoslavije, 1978).
These works of Judaic scholarship were written in three different languages—French, Croatian, and German—and feature, respectively, collections from the Paris Museum of Jewish Art and History, embroidered fabrics from Jewish collections in Yugoslavia, and synagogue art highlighting Bohemian silverwork. Other languages represented in Cissy Grossman's gift include Czech, Italian, Polish, and Spanish.
Hagadah shel Pesaḥ: Hagadat ha-tefutsot = The Diaspora Haggadah: The Artistic and Transliterated Haggadah of Passover (Tel Aviv, Israel: Yaniv Enterprises; Fort Lee, NJ: In USA, Olana Corp., 1988).
Shalom Sabar, Mazal Tov: Illuminated Jewish Marriage Contracts from the Israel Museum Collection (Jerusalem: Israel Museum, 1993).
This publication examines familial emblems, animal symbolism, and traditions associated with these decorative documents. The catalogue was published in conjunction with an exhibition of Jewish marriage contracts (ketubbot) from the permanent collection of the Israel Museum.
Studyo Papo, Hagadah shel Pesah(Tel Aviv: Moked: Levin Epshtein, 1963).
This small, staple-bound volume, printed on handmade paper in a limited edition, presents the haggadah in Hebrew with bold multicolored block-text print illustrations. Copies of this publication, held by other institutions, were distributed by the IBM Company to its employees. Here a trio of rams signifies the Paschal Lamb, or the sacrificial Passover Lamb, mandated by the Torah.
To Have and to Hold: The Decorated Jewish Marriage Contract (New York: Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York, 2001).
This catalogue of an exhibition at The Herbert and Eileen Bernard Museum at Temple Emanu-El on Fifth Avenue draws from The Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and private collections including the Steinhardt Collection.
In addition to these donations, Watson Library has also acquired, over the years, other Judaica books purchased with funds of the Friends of Thomas J. Watson Library, including over forty facsimiles of important Jewish manuscripts such as The Barcelona Haggada and The Kennicott Bible, the rare periodical Milgroym, and The Met Cloisters's recent acquisition Canon Medicinae de Avicena.
All of these books can be requested through Watsonline to be consulted in the Library.
Special thanks to Diane De Fazio, volunteer in the Thomas J. Watson Library, for her research.
