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Maltz Museum
By beanerywriters(11,690)
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We ended our “vacation” at the Maltz Museum in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, stopping as we headed toward our Pennsylvania home. Members of Nolan’s church were speaking about an exhibit there. Since I also have an assignment to write an article on a holocaust survivor, we decided it was worth visiting.
The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage is a world-class institution, a living testament to the courage and achievements of Cleveland’s Jewish community. Personal stories of individuals and families – past and present – come to life in the exhibition galleries through state-of-the-art technology, films, computer interactives, unique artifacts, compelling oral histories, art and images.
In addition, The Temple-Tifereth Israel Gallery presents an internationally -recognized collection of Judaica.
The Museum also hosts special exhibitions of national and international acclaim. The exhibit on display when we visited was Cradle of Christianity: Treasures from the Holy Land, a presentation of Jewish and Christian treasures from the Israel Museum. The exhibit, which began April 1, was ending October 22. Among the visitors were groups of school children with museum tour leaders.
Some items were displayed for the first time in the United States. One of the most important of the dead sea scrolls, the Temple Scroll, was on view for the first time anywhere in the world.
The exhibit covered the time of Jesus through the concurrent Development of Formative Judaism and Christianity in the 4th – 7th Centuries.
The display was protected by guards stationed round and about. Unfortunately, photographs, even non-flash pictures, were not allowed. In fact, cameras had to be left outside the display.
Several people were like me, taking notes off from displays.
The scale and subject of the newly restored Temple Scroll (Dead Sea Scroll) —calling for a new legal interpretation of the Torah—make it one of the most historically important of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The scroll display included columns 19-21 from the 1st century BCE, a parchment and a jar with a lid for storage of scrolls.
Another highlight of the exhibit was the ossuary of Caiaphas, the High Priest, who the New Testament credits with delivering Jesus to the Romans. The box was impressive with its decorative artwork. I had to look up the word ossuary.
About a year after a person is buried, the bones remaining after the body disintegrates are dug up and placed in a box, an ossuary. Some are artistic as was Caiaphas box. The ossuary had a commemorative inscription bearing the name of Pontius Pilate. The writings on the box represent the only surviving physical testimony of these two prominent figures from the story of the trial of Jesus.
On display was a church reconstruction. It included a dedicatory plaque with a cross, two birds, and a Greek inscription: “For the salvation of Zachariah and his son Stephen,” its provenance unknown, of the Byzantine period.
The church floor was stone mosaic. A cross was of the Monastery of the Virgins, Temple mount area, Jerusalem.
Another highlight of the exhibit were the remains of excavated churches and other religious sites. There were dedicatory inscriptions, reliquaries and liturgical objects.
After viewing the Cradle of Christianity Monte and I sought out the holocaust section. It included an original film of the concentration camps, which was quite graphic. Pictures of holocaust survivors who relocated to Cleveland were about the museum.
My first assignment for 2007 is recording the history of a holocaust survivor, Robert Mendler (he granted permission to use his full name). When I heard him speak last fall I saw an opportunity to record a major historical event through the eyes of an unwilling participant.
The Maltz Museum holocaust exhibits brought home the sights and sounds of World War II at home and abroad. Among the displays is a film clip showing the horror of the concentration camps. I wondered about the groups of schoolchildren passing through, some of who watched this clip.
Cleveland servicemen and their families explore the rich lives, senseless deaths and heroic resistance of countless Jewish people who suffered under Nazi tyranny. Close ties between Israel and Cleveland are told through stories and photographs of area Holocaust survivors.
Before we left for New England my husband and I attended a presentation by Bob Mendler, in which he told his story and showed a CD about the holocaust. Included was original footage taken by a GI liberating the camps. I cannot even comment on the horror of that CD and the video shown in the Maltz Museum.
We also interviewed Bob Mendler at his home.
On our return, I spent two hours with a group of Catholic school seventh and eight graders, again listening to his story, always gleaning new and different insights into his experience. In this case, I also heard questions from youth hearing the story for the first time.
At different times, as I write my article, I will share Bob Mendler’s story on this blog.
NOTE: I wish I’d been more alert and attentive, but I really was tired from all the traveling and was anxious to become rooted again. I wish I’d been able to take pictures, a method I use to recall and assist in my writing of events.
The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage is a partnership between The Maltz Family Foundation, the JewishCommunity Federation's Centennial Initiative and The Temple-Tifereth Israel with research support from the Western Reserve Historical Society.
For more information about hours, admission, programs, the Museum Store and special exhibitions, visit www.MaltzJewishMuseum.org or phone 216.593.0575. The museum is located in Beachwood, Ohio.
Some of the background information for this item came from a Maltz Museum media PDF found on the Internet under search request, Maltz Museum. Carolyn |
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Posted to ProBlogs.com on Monday, January 01, 2007
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