The Magnes

⏳ Time is running out! 💦 Flowing through Time and Tradition closes today! The museum is open until 7pm tonight so stop by after work or your last class to see this not to be missed exhibition. Exploring the ways water has shaped Jewish lives across centuries, each object in Flowing serves as a portal, transporting visitors across time and place to reveal how this vital element intricately weaves through Jewish beliefs, practices, origin stories, and histories, extending to the present day in the Bay Area. The Magnes is located at 2121 Allston Way in Downtown Berkeley and admission is free. #Flowing #Time #Tradition #FlowingThroughTimeAndTradition #Believing #Sustaining #Cleansing #DisPlacing #JewishMuseum #JewishArt #JewishLife #JewishExhibition #DowntownBerkeley #Berkeley #BayArea @ucb_cjs @BerkeleyArtsHumanities @ls.ucberkeley @ucberkeleyofficial @berkeleyinspire @dwntwnberkeley @berkeleyhillel

You’ve seen Fiddler on the Roof and know what freylekhs means. Maybe you’ve even seen the Klezmatics at Freight and Salvage. Now, it’s time to talk about klezmer music today. What does it sound like, who plays it and why, and what makes the music of traditional Ashkenazi Jewish life so much fun in 2026? Join Nat Seelen, artistic director of the Boston Festival of New Jewish Music, for a lively discussion of the current state of klezmer, with plenty of musical examples. TODAY! Thursday, May 14, 2026 2:00 – 3:00 pm In person at the Magnes, 2121 Allston Way, Downtown Berkeley Learn more and RSVP in our profile linktree. Presented by the Yiddish Culture Club of Berkeley. #TheMagnes #UCBerkeley #Yiddish #Klezmer #Music @yiddishcultureclubofberkeley @ucb_cjs

The Magnes has a new digital collections catalog and you can be among the first to learn about and explore the online database! Developed by Terentia—a leader in next-generation integrated collections management and digital asset management software—this platform will provide improved access to the Magnes's diverse collection of Jewish material culture. Whether you are a scholar conducting research, a student writing a paper, or a visitor exploring Jewish ritual objects from across the diaspora, Maven offers a seamless online experience. Join us for an introductory user training session with Magnes collections staff! via Zoom --> Monday, May 18 | 12:00–1:00pm In person, bring your own device --> Wednesday, May 20 | 5:30–6:30pm --> Thursday, May 28 | 3:00–4:00pm Learn more and RSVP for the trainings in our profile linktree ⬆️ #TheMagnes #Maven #UCBerkeley @terentia.io #Terentia #JewishMuseum #DigitalCatalog

Big news in our May newsletter! 🗞️ Preview our new online collections catalog, find Jewish American Heritage Month resources, and get the details on your final chance to view "Flowing through Time and Tradition." 🔗 Find the link in our profile linktree #themagnes #maven #whatson #jewishmuseum #museum #bayarea #newsletter #berkeley #downtownberkeley #ucberkeley #may #news #jewishamericanheritagemonth

Today we celebrate nurses! Iranian nurses helped care for the refugee Afghani and Iranian Jews from Kurdistan in 1950 during their exodus to Israel. Join us in honoring all the nurses who make a difference. #InternationalNursesDay https://bit.ly/4uNtVNR Refugee Jews From Kurdistan. Nurses in camp hospital, Iranian nurses by Moshe Shapiro, Tehran, 1950. Black and white photograph. Gift of Moshe Shapiro, #TheMagnes #UCBerkeley 84.22.21

We are in the final week! "Flowing through Time and Tradition" closes THIS Thursday, May 14. Don't miss your chance to see this collections-based exhibition exploring the ways water has shaped Jewish lives across centuries. It traces the vital element's role in sustaining life, building communities, and influencing Jewish identity and spirituality. The Magnes museum is open today until 4, Wednesday from 11-4, and Thursday from 11-7. We are located at 2121 Allston Way in Downtown Berkeley and admission is free. #Flowing #Time #Tradition #FlowingThroughTimeAndTradition #Believing #Sustaining #Cleansing #DisPlacing #JewishMuseum #JewishArt #JewishLife #JewishExhibition #DowntownBerkeley #Berkeley #BayArea @dwntwnberkeley

In the 1860s, portraits of Rabbi Max Lilienthal, a leader of Reform Judaism, hung in homes across America. But as the Civil War began, his portrait became a vessel for a soldier’s rage. On May 28, 1861, Jacob A. Cohen of New Orleans, incensed by the Rabbi’s abolitionist ideals and support for the Union. defaced the lithograph and mailed it back to Lilienthal. Cohen crossed out "The Lord is my Banner" (Exodus 17:15) and wrote "Abraham Lincoln is your banner." In a scathing note on the print, Cohen accused Lilienthal of "discarding the Lord" for a "Negro government," declaring that the Rabbi’s image was no longer welcome in Southern homes. Cohen, who later died fighting for the Confederacy at Manassas, even challenged the Rabbi to a confrontation on the battlefield. Now part of the collection at the Magnes, this defaced lithograph is a powerful witness to a fractured nation. It reminds us that the American Jewish experience has always been deeply intertwined with the struggle for the country's soul. #JewishAmericanHeritageMonth #OurSharedHeritage #JewishMuseum #JewishHistory #CivilWar #Museums #AmericanHistory #CivilWar #RabbiLilienthal https://bit.ly/4djkmPo Defaced portrait of Max Lilienthal, S. Schuster, Nagel and Weingärtner, defaced by Jacob A. Cohen, New Orleans and New York, 1861. Offset lithograph. Gift of Dorothy Schnier. #TheMagnes #UCBerkeley WJHC 1996.001

In celebration of mothers everywhere, here is "Mother and Son" a print by Marc Chagall. "Mother and Son" by Marc Chagall, Berlin, 1923. 41/110. Gift of Eric and Sylvia Elsesser in memory of Trude Guermonprez. #TheMagnes #UCBerkeley 93.66.3

Two-year old Robert Tennenbaum and his family escaped Nazi Germany aboard the H.R.M.S Queen Mary, the only ocean liner with its own synagogue and kosher kitchen. This is Robert's story. The Queen Mary's Torah Ark by Cecil Jacob Epril, England, c. 1935. 92.24, is currently on view at the Magnes in Time Capsules: Exploring the Permanent Collection. Stop by during Jewish American Heritage Month to see this historic Torah Ark. The video was compiled by Dan Alter for the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life. The narrative accompanying this video is based on real people and events but does not contain actual quotes. Special thanks to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum for providing the video footage. #JewishAmericanHeritageMonth #MyJAHM #OurSharedHistory #JAHM #TheMagnes #UCBerkeley #JewishMuseum #QueenMary #TorahArk #JewishCommunity #JewishCulture #JewishHeritage

From the journeys of biblical ancestors to migrations across centuries, Jewish origin stories and histories are shaped by water crossings—seeking opportunity, fleeing persecution, or facing exile. Following the 15th-century expulsions from Spain and Portugal, and during later migrations, Jews crossed oceans to reach the Americas. "End the War with Food," currently on view at the Magnes, depicts immigrants gazing at the Statue of Liberty, the symbol of hope, in New York Harbor. Yet the Yiddish caption suggests a more complex wartime reality: You came here seeking freedom. You must now help preserve it. Wheat is needed for the Allies. Waste nothing. Printed in Yiddish, Italian, and English, this message reflects the tension between finding acceptance in American society while still needing to prove loyalty. This Jewish American Heritage Month, explore the theme of water through the holdings of the Magnes, "Flowing through Time and Tradition" traces how water flows through and shapes Jewish lives: enacting belief, sustaining life and communities, providing the means for spiritual cleansing, and mapping identities. See this lithograph while you can — the exhibition closes on Thursday, May 14! The Magnes museum is open Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from 11-4 and Thursday from 11-7. We are located at 2121 Allston Way in Downtown Berkeley and admission is free. #JewishAmericanHeritageMonth #JAHM #OurSharedHeritage #Flowing #Time #Tradition #FlowingThroughTimeAndTradition #Believing #Sustaining #Cleansing #DisPlacing #JewishMuseum #JewishArt #JewishLife #JewishExhibition #DowntownBerkeley #Berkeley #BayArea @ucb_cjs @BerkeleyArtsHumanities @ls.ucberkeley @ucberkeleyofficial @berkeleyinspire @dwntwnberkeley @berkeleyhillel U.S. Food Administation: "End the War with Food" by Charles Edward Chambers (1883–1941) Rusling Wood, Litho for the United States Food Administration: New York, 1918. Museum Purchase, 75.225. Photo by Sibila Savage

⏳ Don't miss your chance to see Flowing through Time and Tradition! The exhibition closes next Thursday, May 14. Exploring the theme of water, the exhibition uses the Magnes’s extensive holdings to examine how this vital element has shaped Jewish lives across centuries. It traces water’s role in sustaining life, building communities, and influencing Jewish identity and spirituality. “Flowing through Time and Tradition offers a unique lens on the formation of Jewish life and experiences through the multifaceted significance of water,” Achinoam Aldouby, the exhibition’s curator shared. “Each object serves as a portal, transporting visitors across time and place to reveal how water intricately weaves through Jewish beliefs, practices, origin stories, and histories, extending to the present day in the Bay Area. Tracing how water shapes Jewish life, Flowing invites a reflection on the sources and forces that shape our understanding of the world and our place within it.” The Magnes museum is open Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from 11-4 and Thursday from 11-7. We are located at 2121 Allston Way in Downtown Berkeley and admission is free. #Flowing #Time #Tradition #FlowingThroughTimeAndTradition #Believing #Sustaining #Cleansing #DisPlacing #JewishMuseum #JewishArt #JewishLife #JewishExhibition #DowntownBerkeley #Berkeley #BayArea @ucb_cjs @BerkeleyArtsHumanities @ls.ucberkeley @ucberkeleyofficial @berkeleyinspire @dwntwnberkeley @berkeleyhillel Images: 1) Seated Nude by Moïse Kisling, 1925. 75.63 2) [Child Watching Waves Collide with the Shore] by Jacob Pins, 1971. 84.48.1.5 3) [Laver from Jerusalem], n.d. 78.78.35.4 Photo by @sibilia_savage 4) Egypt: Fellah Women Carrying Water [reproduction] by Tancrède Dumas, 1860–1889. 79.41.15

The Yiddish Culture Club is becoming important! We are hosting the Boston-based clarinetist Nat Seelen at the Magnes Musuem! Celebrate the end of the school year and the completion of the YCCB's inaugural year!