so I decided to go off to see the Jewish Museum. London is full of these little museums, more than 300 of them and its amazing.
So on the way over, saw this pub called as spread eagle needing some drain work. Hmmm
Hmmmm, people love this street or street sign anyway
Fair point
Anyway, I pop into the museum, its a fairly new one
Gosh, the cafe is brilliant.
And the first thing I see is this Mikveh. A ritual Bath. Dating back to the mid 13th Century. Married women would use this after their periods and the birth of a child, men may use it before Sabbath & festivals. Can also be used in preparation for marriage and conversions.
there was some strong security in here, and not surprised, after the threats this place has received from the assorted fundos.
The amazing part is the sheer intellectual strength that one see’s in this community and the trade unionism is one big amazing step which the British Jewery were involved in
Some lovely paintings which talks about the history of the Jews.
This arch of Titus which Ive seen in sunny old Rome is amazing. And you have to read up on Simon Montefiore’s book on Jerusalem. And his BBC series on this. I will be doing a course on Jerusalem next year on coursera, fun times. The menorah which was shown on the Arch has now attained iconic status for the Jews.
As it says
That’s a goblet made of a coconut shell and decorated
stuff that’s used in daily life
I love this religion :)
Ouch, this is one thing which does my head in
And I would love to toot that horn
A traditional setup for a formal dinner
A silver crown. Hmmm, who wears this?
Some of the silver on display is absolutely amazing, the workmanship is extraordinary.
then we move into the Synagogue.
Where an ark was kept
Procession of the Law, a painting from 1845, the torah is paraded around the synagogue with singing and dancing. I mean, can this ever get better? What a great religion :)
Hello? you can get dressed up :) So I did
Fetching, eh?
A cutaway section of how a synagogue looks like. Why are the wimmin segregated? Not good
Decorating the torah
Hanukah Lamps
Purim Festival
Somebody actually wrote the scroll of Esther on a back of a postcard!
An oak panel with a scene from the Book of Esther from Germany/Netherlands from the 16th Cenury showing Esther exposing Haman’s treachery at a banquet.
This story is read during this festival. Curious, this tale is shown on scrolls which will only have one roller on the left, unlike other scrolls which will have two.
Then we come to Passover
this is an extraordinary way of measuring offerings. The names are mentioned on the left and the length of the thread measures the amount of the gift.
A brave lady, Nina Salaman.
The Jews in the UK have come from all over the world.
When those Nazi’s started terrorising Jews (and others), people started to try to escape Germany. Kindertransport was a scheme that was established to take in almost 10000 children from Nazi Germany and were placed with foster parents. Most cases, they were the only survivors of their families. There’s a beautiful sculpture in Liverpool Street Station commemorating this.
Some fascinating snippets…so the document which produces the fore-runner of the modern liberal democratic system also had this piece in there.
1066 was important
Pogroms happened in the UK way back then..
Ouch
Blood Libel
The Jews were welcomed (somewhat..) in the uk
Ouch
More restrictions
Not good
And then the bloody Brits get into the game
And more..
And then the fortunes change, here’s a bust of Disraeli. A man who was born Jewish but then his father left Judaism. Another trait of the Jews which I love, they love to argue, lol
More amazing history of Jews in the UK
Baron Rothschild MP who got this when he was finally allowed to take his seat in the House of Commons. And the first Jew to be raised to the Peerage.
the fight for equal rights.
And then what the normal Jew got up to
implements
and instruments
Normal day to day life
And they volunteered for King and Country
and then we come to the heart rending bit, the Holocaust
cutlery and mug from Auschwitz. Shoes from another camp
A promise to tell the outside world what the Germans did. So that future generations do not repeat the mistake
a home made toothbrush at the camps
And the outfit worn by one of the inmates
The barbed wire from the camp
Did you know the history of bagels?
A lovely little menorah
yes, Sir, minding the head
I head down the stairs
And have a cuppa tea at the cafe
A very cute little museum shop as well
heh, nice one.
a lovely day out here..
No comments:
Post a Comment