Updated Sept. 4
Water — it’s a fundamental part of life, and also an element with deep connections to Jewish tradition. From the creation of the world to the flood, from the parting of the Red Sea to the intimate ritual of the mikvah, and even the Atlantic crossings of immigrants to America, water has been key.
The ways in which water interacts with Jewish life is the theme of the new exhibit at the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life in Berkeley, which opened Aug. 28. “Flowing through Time and Tradition” is on view through May 2026.
It’s a topic with breadth.
Water is “there from the beginning, the beginning of the beginning, before the creation,” said Achinoam Aldouby, associate curator at the Magnes, who designed the exhibit.
Sixty-five objects from the Magnes’ own collection trace the theme of water via both its symbolic power and its function in Jewish ritual. These range from the prosaic, such as a glass water jug, to the evocative — a soapstone panel carved in a Cyprus detention camp with a scene of a ship.
“I love that the show has content for people who have deep knowledge about Jewish life, Jewish practice, and also content for people who are learners,” said Hannah Weisman, executive director of the Magnes. “It really doesn’t depend on prior knowledge to engage, invite reflection, offer points of comparison between your own life and the things that are on view.”
The artifacts and fine art pieces on display range from the 16th to the 20th century and come from places as diverse as India, Cyprus, Russia, Israel, Belgium, Syria, Egypt and the U.S.
The exhibit is divided into four themes around the role of water in Jewish life: believing, sustaining, cleansing and displacing. But the topic was chosen, Aldouby said, by outgoing Magnes head curator Francesco Spagnolo, who left the organization in July after 20 years to pursue other curatorial and advising positions, including with the National Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah.
“He handed it to me — this is my first year here — as a way, I think thoughtfully, for me to really learn the collection,” said Aldouby, who comes to the Magnes from the Tower of David Museum in Jerusalem.
The Magnes is in a time of transition, with both Spagnolo and longtime registrar Julie Franklin stepping down. The organization has launched a search for a new head curator, and Weisman said she expects to see a new person in the role by spring. But life at the Magnes is not on hold in the interim, she said.
“We also are moving along with all of our initiatives in the meantime,” she said. “We’re not pausing our work for that search.”
The gallery is open to visitors during public hours, as usual with no admission fee, only a suggested donation. Groups can also contact the Magnes for a guided tour.
For Aldouby, having visitors to the gallery interact with the exhibit is crucial to her concept.
“The gallery is 50 percent the exhibition and the other 50 percent is the people that come in and the stories that they bring,” Aldouby said.
“Flowing through Time and Tradition” includes discussion prompts, listening stations with music and even a map of the world where people can stick notes showing where their ancestors lived.
Aldouby said it was a challenge to narrow down the selection for the exhibit, considering the Magnes collection is full of objects that speak to the theme. But some pieces were an immediate “yes” for her.
One is the oil painting “Refugee Children, Poland,” by Maurycy Minkowski.
“There was something very powerful in this image,” Aldouby said. “Something in the gaze. The child looks at you, but not exactly at you.”
She said the painting was a representation of the aftermath of the Białystok pogrom in 1906, in which Polish mobs looted Jewish homes and buildings.
“I felt it was a very powerful image of thirst,” she said. “Physical thirst, communal thirst or social thirst for connection.”
It’s only one of the many objects that, while connected by the theme of water, also show the vast range of the Magnes collection, which includes art, ritual objects and documents.
“The uniqueness of the collection,” Aldouby said, “is that it holds Jewish stories, Jewish objects, daily objects and art from different communities across the world.”