Judaica
Museum
Every
place, every thing is an opportunity to instruct and
learn. Temple Adath has a very impressive Judaic Museum
that reflects the diversity and eclectic culture of Jewish
life. One will discover in the museum showcases in the
main thoroughfare that unites the school wing and chapel/sanctuary
slate foyer, an eighteenth century Moroccan Hanukiah,
an ancient Yad, Torah pointer, spice boxes by the late
artist in residence of the Jewish Museum, Ludwig Wolpert,
and a yellow Star of David worn during the Holocaust
by one of Temple Adath’s members. Immediately adjacent
to the Judaic Museum is a permanent exhibition, photographs
by Roman Vishinac.
Roman Vishniac, photographer and physician by training,
captured life in the Jewish Shtetlekh of Poland, Rumania,
Russia and Hungary between 1935 and 1938. Using a hidden
camera and under difficult circumstances, Vishniac took
over 16,000 photographs of subjects who were unaware
of their bleak future. Vishniac’s collection of
photographs gives a last minute look at the human beings
he photographed (many of which were children) just before
the fury of Nazi brutality exterminated them.
This dedication and opening takes place the week of Kristallnacht,
so called from the broken glass left in its aftermath.
This night of violence against the Jews carried out by
members of the German Nazi Party took place on November
9-10, 1938. Approximately 7,500 Jewish businesses were
gutted, Jewish homes vandalized and some 177 synagogues
destroyed. Thirty thousand wealthy Jews were arrested
by the Gestapo which offered their release in exchange
for surrendering their wealth and emigrating. This incident
marked a major escalation in Jewish persecution by the
Nazis and foreshadowed the Holocaust.
This exhibition has been endowed by Alan and Ann Rothschild,
members of the Temple Adath community. Through their
generosity, commitment and inspiration, this exhibition
will be a permanent education vehicle for the greater
Syracuse community. Temple Adath is honored to be among
the few in the Northeast to house a permanent collection
of Roman Vishniac photographs.
As you further walk through the building, the outside
wall to the main sanctuary, there is a metal sculpture
by the late Nathan Rappaport; a piece of Holocaust sculpture
dedicated by Rappaport himself. The Temple Adath sculpture
is very similar to pieces that Rappaport created for
the National Holocaust Museum in Israel Yad V’shem
and the Warsaw ghetto.
A leisurely stroll through the Temple Adath building
allows one to understand the creativity, sensitivity
and narrative of the Jewish people. It is further indicated
by what some would refer to as plaques, but even in those
plaques there is a sacred Jewish message. The presidential
plaque of honor, celebrating past presidents of Temple
Adath outside the Temple Adath board room is a creation
by the contemporary artist, Mordecai Rosenstein based
upon a verse in Exodus “Seek out from all the people
leaders of ability”.
In the Cooper Garden there is a metal work by the local
artist Dorothy Reister who has created all the metal
work in the Temple, the eternal light above the ark in
the main sanctuary, the menorahs behind the Rabbi and
Cantor’s pulpit., and the “burning bush” sculpture
in the Cooper Garden all reflect the artist’s creativity
rooted in traditional Jewish sources.
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Copyright ©2005 Temple Adath Yesruhun • Established 1867 • Email: info@adath.org
450 Kimber Road, Syracuse, NY 13224-1899 • Tel: (315) 445-0002 • Fax:
(315) 446-0667
Temple Adath Yeshurun is affiliated with The United Synagogue of Conservative
Judaism |
