The display cases at the very center of The Magnes building are designed to unleash the curatorial mind by presenting diverse collection items, a variety of display modes, and a wide range of perspectives. This is the ideal platform for the Case Study exhibition series, conceived as a scholars playground. Each year, UC Berkeley faculty, graduate students and visiting scholars will collaborate with the curators of The Magnes in creating collection-based exhibitions based on emerging research. It is our privilege to inaugurate the series with an exhibition created in collaboration with Jeffrey Shandler, Professor of Jewish Studies at Rutgers, and a leading figure in the study of modern Jewish culture. The Inventory Project draws on his current research on the role of inventory as a practice of modern Jewish life and offers an unconventional look at The Magnes Collections multi-dimensional archive, library, and museum holdings. In the course of several months, Jeffrey Shandler and I explored the collection in search of a variety of items that relate to the act of inventorying. We highlight here rosters, calendars, glossaries, and maps, but also ritual objects, items of clothing, postcards, souvenir books, and restaurant menus. These objects were created by Jews in Europe, Israel and the Americas, as well as North Africa, the Middle East and India, to take stock of their own activities and social status, to celebrate themselves and their communities, or to cope with immigration and exile. At times, they were also the product of the other as in the emblematic case of the bureaucratic apparatus of the Spanish Inquisitiondevised to account for Jewish particularism. Each of the eighty items in the exhibition is subject to a multiplicity of views and interpretations. Accompanying the physical display, digital components online and on-site will allow for the growing understanding of a phenomenon that, as Jeffrey Shandler writes, is a defining practice of modern Jewish culture, although seldom recognized as such.
Introduction
by Jeffrey Shandler
As part of my ongoing research on the role of inventory in modern Jewish life, I came to The Magnes looking for examples of inventories. To find them, I started with an inventory: the database of all Magnes holdings, which I searched using such keywords as list, roster, table, catalog, register, menu, chart, and, of course, inventory. I also looked in collections of certain kinds of objects, such as postcards and calendars, which I knew would offer interesting examples of inventory. Magnes staff members suggested additional items in the collection with which they were familiar. While gathering these items, I thought about how to organize them as an inventory of inventories. Certain categories of inventorying emerged from the juxtaposition of individual examples. These included categories I was already interested in, such as inventories of people or of things, as well as new possibilities for grouping these items from the Magnes collections. As is true of all inventories, how items are organized is key to assigning meaning to them. When my inventory of inventories from The Magnes passed into the hands of Magnes staff for the creation of this exhibition, the juxtaposition of individual examples continued to change, creating still more possibilities for seeing connections among this diverse assortment of objects. This, too, is true to the spirit of inventories, whose contents are constantly on the move and whose rubrics are regularly reconceived. Following are brief discussions of some of the new categories of Jewish inventory that emerged from this project. I hope that visitors to the exhibition will be stimulated by what is on display here and will continue the process of exploring the role of inventory in modern Jewish life. Time The pervasive, standardized measuring of time is a defining characteristic of modern life. Regulated units of time appear in inventories of Jewish life ranging from itineraries for package tours of Israel to listings of the precise minute for lighting holiday candles. Modern Jewish calendars integrate multiple rubrics related to measuring time. Each page of these calendars typically displays a month according to the Gregorian calendar with corresponding dates of the Jewish months. Calendars also provide information regarding traditional religious practice, celebrate Jewish history and accomplishments, or promote accord between Jews and their neighbors. In each case, the practical role of the calendar for tracking time according to two different systems of reckoning is enhanced with information of symbolic importance, to be contemplated throughout the year.
Worship Inventories of various kinds appear throughout Jewish worship practices. In addition to its role in organizing the complexities of worshipfor example, using an omer calendar to reckon the days between Passover and Shavuotinventorying helps maintain the synagogue as a physical and social institution. Synagogue seating charts provide an inventory of congregants names and indicate something of their status within the community, since seats are often assigned to congregants in exchange for donations of support. The iconic presence of the Ten Commandments, whether as an image in synagogue decoration or on ritual objects, reminds worshippers not only of the most renowned list in Judaism but also of its foundational commitment to religious law. The shape of two tabletsoften with highly abbreviated texts of the commandments, sometimes with Roman numerals representing themis among the most widely recognized symbols of Judaism. Arguably the oldest list in Jewish culture, the Ten Commandments is also its most emblematic. Inventories figure in ritual practice not only as guides to observancePassover seder plates, for example, list the traditional order of the rituals performed during this ceremonial mealbut may also also appear as symbols invoking the ancient Israelite past, as in representations of the twelve tribes of Israel on ritual objects. They can even constitute exercises in the imaginary, as in the list of ushpizin, which conjures a roster of honored patriarchal visitors to a sukkah. Knowledge Lists help constitute bodies of knowledge and programs of study, whether religious or secular, and track the progress of scholarship. Inventory practices also regulate how knowledge is acquired and disseminated. When these lists become subjects of study themselves, they shed light on the social practices of research and teaching as well as changing notions of what constitutes Jewish literacy. The list of Jewish Studies courses offered by the City College of New York in 1974 included in the exhibition demonstrates how this field was taking shape early in its history in American universities. The range of courses offered drew on scholars with expertise in different disciplineshistory, literature, foreign languages, comparative religions, social sciencesto construct a field of scholarship striving for comprehensive coverage of Jewish experience around the world and over many centuries. Programs of study such as this sought to establish Jewish Studies as a substantive area of intellectual inquiry in its own right and of relevance to other academic fields.
Leisure Leisure activities may be thought of as an escape from the rigors of modern life, but tourism, camping, even dining out are themselves modern phenomena. As such, they are defined by inventoriesincluding schedules, price lists, and rosters of participants, landmarks, souvenirs, or activitieswhich structure how people experience their leisure time. Books of pressed flowers from the Holy Land, often juxtaposed with pictures of famous landmarks, were popular souvenirs for Christian and Jewish tourists at the turn of the twentieth century. These books combine inventories of regional flora and sacred geography in keepsakes that interrelate religion, tourism, and botany. Picture postcards were a widely popular new medium at the end of the nineteenth century in Europe and America. In addition to sending postcards to acquaintances, especially when traveling, collecting postcards became a popular pastime. Their standardized, modular format provides a rubric for publishing cards in series, creating inventories of images on a vast array of subjects. Postcards portraying collections of writers, historical artifacts, scenes of Jewish life, or historical events, celebrate these inventories of images as Jewish patrimony. Finance The financial records of Jewish leaders and communal institutions contain a wealth of information beyond the amounts of money they document, variously revealing insights into social stratification, cultural literacy, or ritual custom. Other financial records demonstrate how authorities under whom Jews lived regulated and scrutinized their lives. The traditional prohibition against writing on the Sabbath inspired the invention of various devices that allow congregants to specify donations they wish to pledge, in exchange for the honorary roles assigned to them during worship, without violating Jewish law. These devices accommodate both traditional religious precepts and the imperative to keep records of financial pledges. Protection Displaying, carrying, or wearing a list can constitute an act of empowerment. Through these practices, inventories are used not only to invoke supernatural protection and ward off harm, as in the case of amulets, but also to celebrate Jewish communal solidarity. A shekel registration card certified that the bearer had paid a yearly fee and was entitled to vote in the Election of Delegates to the World Zionist Congress. In the years before the establishment of the State of Israel, registering supporters to the Zionist cause emulated the registry of voters in state elections. Each of these cards empowered its bearer as one among many in a mass movement, attested by the registration number.
The Catalog
Case A
Congregation Ohabai Shalome cornerstone, time capsule, and time capsule contents San Francisco, California, 1895 WJHC 2001.002.1, WJHC 2001.002.2, and Congregation Ohabai Shalome Time Capsule content, WJHC 2001.002 AR1 Members of Ohabai Shalome, a congregation established in San Francisco in 1865, deposited several items in a time capsule set inside the cornerstone of the congregations new building on Bush Street, in the course of a groundbreaking ceremony that took place on July 7, 1895. The building survived the 1906 earthquake, and is today the oldest synagogue in San Francisco. The capsule, a metal box, was unearthed in 2001. The items included in the capsule form an idiosyncratic inventory of time, place and community, suggesting multiple notions of how to represent the congregations history for posterity. Some of the items are themselves inventories. A1. Cornerstone, inscribed in Hebrew: ohavey shalom 15 tamuz [5]655 lk[...] (Ohabai Shalome, July 7, 1895) A2. Time capsule (metal box) A3. Selection of objects deposited in the time capsule, including coins and a mezuzah A4. List of Officers and Members of the Congregation Ohabai Shalome, San Francisco, 1895 A5. Order of Exercises of the Laying of the Corner Stone of the New Synagogue of Congregation Ohabai Shalome, on Bush St., near Laguna St., [San Francisco,] on Sunday, July 7th, 1895 2 oclock p.m. A6. Form of Application [to the benevolent society Chebra Bikur Cholim Ukedisha], San Francisco 1860
Case B
Front
B1. Embroidered Torah mantle with depictions of a crown, flanking lions, a flower vase and the Tablets of the Law listing the Hebrew incipits of the Ten Commandments Commissioned by Moishe and Debora Rosenkind United States, 20th century Velvet, metallic embroidery thread, sequins and rhinestones Gift of Congregation Sherith Israel, San Francisco, 75.183.63 B2. Calendar for counting the omer with depictions of an arch and supporting columns, a lion, a shell, flower vases and floral motifs, inscribed with blessings, Psalm 67, Hebrew poetry, and a list of the forty-nine days of the count with corresponding kabbalistic descriptions Germany, 18th cent. Tempera on paper Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection, 67.1.6.16 B3. The Jews: 35 Centuries of Extraordinary Human Experience Spring 1974 Course Offerings [of the] Department of Jewish Studies, CCNY Course offering flyer, illustration by Ben Shahn (1898-1969) New York, City College of the City University of New York, 1974 Offset litho 2012.0.25 B4. Synagogue manuscript plaque for the first siyyum ha-shas (Talmudic study cycle) listing names of participants and corresponding titles of Talmudic tractates Yaaqov Weiser (scribe) Kosice (Yid. Kashoy), Slovakia, 15 Shevat [5691] (February 2, 1931) Ink on paper 2010.0.41 B5. Machzor for the Festival of Shavuot Hebrew Egypt, 19th century Ink on paper, leather binding, 99 leaves Karaite Manuscript Collection KC22 The final leaves of this manuscript prayer book include a list of names of members of the Karaite (bene miqra) community in Egypt, dated Rosh Chodesh Nissan 5635 (April 6, 1875). The list divides the community members among kohanim (Priests), leviim (Levites) and yisraelim (Israelites), and includes householders who are married to two women.
Back
B6. Synagogue seating chart Liptovsk Mikul, Slovakia, 1846-1878 Ink and tempera on paper Gift of John David Bachrach, 68.60.1.2 B7. Shiviti amulet for household protection, listing the evil forces being contrasted, names of angels, and the seven mystical guests (ushpizin) visiting a sukkah during the Festival of Sukkot (Tabernacles) India, 20th century Ink on paper, decal transfers Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Bernard Kimmel collection, 68.99.3
Case C
Front
C1. Painted Hebrew manuscript leaf for the Sukkah Central Europe, 17th-18th century Ink and gouache on paper 2012.7 Plaque for adorning a sukkah with devotional kabbalistic manuscript texts about the Festival of Sukkot (Tabernacles), illustrated with a crown, flanking lions, an ouroboros, and seven roundels listing the ushpizin, the mystical guests who visit the sukkah during the seven days of the Festival (after Zohar 5:103b). C2. Painted Passover plate depicting a family at a Festival table, and a list of the fourteen parts of the Seder France, Limoges, 19th century Porcelain Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, 78.25 C3. Protected Wild Flowers. Dont Pick Wild Flowers! Israel, Japhet Press Ltd. Society for Protection of Nature Nature Reserves Authority, paintings by Heather Wood, [n.d.] Hebrew, Arabic and English poster Offset litho 2012.0.16
C5. Flowers and Views of the Holy Land. Souvenir of the British Accupation [sic]. 9th December 1917. Jerusalem English, Hebrew, and French Jerusalem, Chagise, 1917, 13 plates, lithographs by A. L. Monsohn Pressed flowers, paper, buffering paper, carved olive wood and cloth binding 83.63.2 C6. asefat prachim ve-tziyurey meqomot haqedoshim be-eretz ha-qodesh yerushala[yi]m. Flowers and Views of the Holy Land Jerusalem Hebrew, English, German, French and Russian Jerusalem, [1914], 13 plates, lithographs by A. L. Monsohn Olive wood and cloth binding, pressed flowers, paper, buffering paper 85.12.2 C7. Wall-hanging Calendars Interns for Peace. Middle East Calendar 1987 English, Hebrew and Arabic Israel, Palphot, [1986] Offset litho 2012.0.26 Jerusalem 3000. American Jewish Cultural Almanac [for the year] 5757 (1996-1997) Illustrated by Michel Schwartz (1926-2011) English and Hebrew New York, Boys Town Jerusalem, [1996] Offset litho 2012.0.27 JNF Almanac [for the year] 5739 (1978-1979) English and Hebrew New York, Jewish National Fund, [1978] Offset litho 2012.0.28
Back
C10. A Genealogical Tree of the Priests and Levites. Exod. VI.16. Numb. III.18 etc. After Augustine Calmet, vol. 2, V, p. 63 Engraving on paper Gift of Seymour Fromer, 76.79 C11. A Development Map of Israel 1948-1965 Jerusalem, Israel, CARTA, [1965] Offset litho 2007.0.51
Case D
Camp Kelowa (Lake Huntington, California)
D1. Camp Kelowa activities list for Stephen Zellerbach (1927-2011) Lake Huntington, California, 1936-1937 Leather hide, pigments WJHC 1990.005.4
D2. Camp Kelowa publicity book. Campers Behavior Frequency scale (Confidential) San Francisco, California, 1931 Scrapbook Louis and Emma Blumenthal papers, BANC MSS 2010/689 Stephen Zellerbach (1927-2011), a philanthropist, businessman, community activist, fourth generation San Franciscan, and UC Berkeley alumnus, descended from a family that immigrated to California from Bavaria in the 1850s. The Zellerbach family papers are part of The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life at The Bancroft Library. Camp Kelowa, located in Lake Huntington, California, was a camp for Jewish boys established by Louis and Emma (ne Loewy) Blumenthal in 1928. Camp activities were documented by the organizers in yearly scrapbooks containing copies of promotional materials, administrative forms, and photographs. The Blumenthals played central roles in San Franciscos Jewish communal life. Louis was executive director of the YMHA (1924-1933) and the co-founder (with Lloyd W. Dinkelspiel) and executive director of San Franciscos Jewish Community Center (1933-1959). Stephen Zellebachs souvenir of summer activities at Camp Kelowa lists them in an orderly series of images on a piece of leather in the shape of an animal hide. This object links the camps regularized schedule of organized activities for children grouped by age with an ideal of camping as an escape into a pre-modern idyll, exemplified by a mythic image of American Indians.
Drawers
Drawer One: Amulets
1. Amulet for newborn children depicting Lilith, inscribed with biblical quotations and kabbalistic formulas listing the letters of the name of god Iran, 18th century Silver Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection, 67.1.1.3 2. Printed amulet inscribed with the words shaday and yerushalayim, a list of names of angels, and the names of rabbinical saints Shimon bar Yochay (2nd cent.), Meir Baal ha-Nes (2nd cent.), and Amram ben Diwan (d. Morocco, 1782) Morocco, 20th century Paper, ink, metal and glass frame Judah L. Magnes Museum Purchase with funds provided by Dr. Elliot Zaleznik, 78.4.40 3. Manuscript shiviti amulet with menorah formed from the verses of Psalms 67 Morocco, 20th century Ink on parchment Museum Purchase with funds provided by Dr. Elliot Zaleznik, 78.4.10
3. Hebrew Almanac [for the year] 5712 (1951-1952) advertising The San Francisco Bank English, Hebrew and Yiddish New York, Hebrew Publishing Company, 1951 2012.0.21 4. Hebrew Almanac for the year 5687 (1926-1927) advertising Meyer Londons Inc., Matzos Bakery, 494-496-498 Grand St., New York, with manuscript annotations about the Friedberg family English, Hebrew and Yiddish New York, Hebrew Publishing Company, 1926 2012.0.22 5. Vest Pocket Hebrew Almanac [for the year] 5726 (1965-1966) English and Hebrew New York, Hebrew Publishing Company, 1965 2012.0.23 6. Vest Pocket Hebrew Almanac [for the year] 5730 (1969-1970) English and Hebrew New York, Hebrew Publishing Company, 1969 2012.0.24
7. Jahres Panorama. le-shanah tovah (Years review. Happy New Year). New Years greeting card booklet illustrated with ten scenes of Jewish life Cologne, Germany, Max Victor, 1879 Extendable panoramakarte booklet Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection, 67.1.15.33 8. Affaire Dreyfus N. 1. Rvision Venice, Italy, G. Sternfeld, signed CT, mailed from Antwerp, Belgium, 1905 Postcard Gift of Nell Mendelsohn, 92.34.710 9. Affaire Dreyfus N. 2. Le prisonnier Venice, Italy, G. Sternfeld, signed CT, n.d. Postcard Gift of Nell Mendelsohn, 92.34.711 10. Affaire Dreyfus N. 3. La dame voile et Esterhazy Venice, Italy, G. Sternfeld, signed CT, n.d. Postcard Gift of Nell Mendelsohn, 92.34.712
Drawer Four
Baruch Braunstein collection on the Inquisition of Majorca, Spain LIB 99.59 AR1 Baruch Braunstein (1906-1991) was a rabbi, teacher, scholar, and radio narrator. He collected a variety of original documents about the Inquisition trials on the Spanish island of Majorca in the 17th-18th centuries, and published The Chuetas of Majorca: Conversos and the Inquisition of Majorca (1936). The collection includes sixteen packets of investigative proceedings (procesos), and other supporting materials documenting the trials against Judaizing men and women and the operations of the bureaucratic apparatus of the Spanish Inquisition. 1. Proceso No. 7: Sequela del processo, y causa criminal de fee [] contra Alonso, alias Jacob Lopez natural de Madrid Judaicante pertinaz (Case No. 7: Proceedings of the trial and criminal prosecution of faith [...] against Alonso, aka Jacob Lopez, a native of Madrid, relentless Judaizer), Majorca, Spain, 1674 2. Instruccion, y regla, que han de observar los Ministrio de el distrito de esta Inquisicion de Toledo... (Instructions and rules to be observed by the Ministries of the Inquisition district of Toledo), octavo, Toledo, n.d., 8p. 3. Estado de las rentas salarios y gastos de el consexo y tribunales de inquisicion de estos reynos (State of the revenues salaries and expenses of the council and courts of inquisition of these kingdoms), manuscript copy of an original document from 1731, made by the Archivo General Central [de Alcala de Henares], Madrid, [20th cent.]
Case E
E1. Embroidered matzah pouch for the Passover Seder table made of three pockets with protruding tabs labelled kohen, levi, and yisrael, depicting animals and floral motifs, and inscribed with the names of the sections of the Seder meal Cotton and silk 75.183.140 E2. Desk clock with fixed dial in Hebrew letters and moving hands, supported by columns surmounted by birds, standing above a reproduction of the Tablets of the Law with an engraved list of the Ten Commandments according to their Hebrew incipits and two flanking lions Brass, cast and engraved 68.71 E3. Cuff link set depicting the Tablets of the Law surmounted by a Star of David, with a list of the Ten Commandments in Roman numerals United States, 20th century Silver Gift of Emmie Vida, 91.15.2.3
E8. Table of Hebrew verb constructions with Malayalam translations Hebrew and Malayalam, 64 p. Kochi, Kerala, India, 20th cent. India ms. 74
E14. tokhniyot le-tiyurim be-eretz-yisrael. Itineraries for Tours in Palestine Design and Clishe [sic] by Y. Cogon. Hebrew and English Palestine, The Palestine Express, Azriel Press, n.d. Offset litho 2012.0.1 E15. Certificate of Shekel Registration No. 401051 USA, U.S. Central Shekel Board-World Zionist Congress, 1937 Engraving and letterpress on paper Gift of Morris and Frances A. Brown, 99.51.1 E16. Land of Israel eretz-yisrael at the New York Worlds Fair 1939. Jewish Palestine Exhibit at the New York World Fair Membership Card No. 101674 A New York, American Committee for Jewish Palestine Participation at the New York Worlds Fair, 1939 Offset litho Gift of Morris and Frances A. Brown, 99.51.2