"The Creation of the World. Illustrated Manuscripts from the Braginsky Collection"

The Lender René Braginsky

For three decades now, the lender and Zurich-based entrepren€ René Braginsky has been building his collection of exceptional aesthetic and cultural value: "Particularly in our fast-paced, often hectic age, contemplating these manuscripts fills me with calm, serenity, and the confidence that what is truly important will endure," says Braginsky of his personal commitment as a collector. The Jewish Museum Berlin is exhibiting the treasures from the Braginsky Collection for the last time before they return once more to the collector’s private library.

Highlights of the Braginsky Collection

In three thematic areas, the exhibition presents richly illustrated books, marriage contracts (Ketubot) and Esther scrolls (Megillot). Each type of object has an associated color that provides visitors with a visual orientation through the exhibition, while slanted surfaces protrude into the exhibition spaces like calligraphic lines.

Blue Room: Books

The focus of the collection is on manuscripts. The exhibition presents a selection of more than 70 books. Among the most valuable manuscripts is a copy of the foundational legal code "Mishneh Torah," written by Moses Maimonides in Germany in the year 1355 and considered to be the most important systematic summary of religious law. The oldest manuscript in the collection, "The Great Book of Commandments," was written in 1288 in Valais.

Red Room: Ketubot

The Ketubah (plural Ketubot), the Jewish marriage contract, is a written record of a woman’s legal status and property and regulates the groom’s legal obligations toward his wife. At the wedding ceremony, the Ketubah plays an important role, as it is read out and shown to those in attendance. Families often invest considerable amounts of money and effort into the production of the Ketubot. In their heyday during the 17th and 18th centuries, families competed to produce the most lavishly decorated Ketubah. Community leaders even established an upper price limit for the ornate designs. At a listening station, visitors can listen to the Aramaic text of the contract, the wording of which is identical by tradition, while admiring and comparing the 30 magnificent Ketubot on display.

Yellow Room: Megillot

Richly decorated and illustrated Esther scrolls (Megillot) have been widely used in Jewish religious art since the 16th century, and still today are an indispensable part of the festival of Purim. The festival commemorates the miraculous salvation of the Jews from destruction by their arch-enemy Haman in the Persian Empire some 2,500 years ago. Among the 32 Megillot on display is also the oldest known illustrated Megillah, which was completed in 1564 in Venice. Another unique item is the longest Megillah in the collection: Spanning seven meters and rich in imagery, it is an example of the fusion of Jewish calligraphic and Indian illustrative traditions.

The Creation of the World: The Meaning of Scripture in Judaism

With the loss of the geographic religious center, word-based worship took the place of worship based on sacrifice, and synagogues that were not bound to one location took over the role of the destroyed Temple of Jerusalem. The surviving texts thus became the most important and central aspect of Jewish ritual. To this day, the study and interpretation of the biblical scripture form the core of intellectual Jewish life.

Torah Scribes in the Exhibition

Writing a Torah is a sacred act that can only be carried out by specially trained scribes. A Torah scribe is bound by tradition to perfection. With each Torah roll, the scribe creates the world out of scripture. "With his work, the Torah scribe creates the world anew; it must be no less perfect than God's creation itself," explains Cilly Kugelmann, Program Director of the Jewish Museum Berlin. The scribe is supposed to produce an exact copy, while always keeping the original text in mind. From Sunday to Thursday during the entire duration of the exhibition, the Torah scribe and Rabbi Reuven Yaacobov will work on the Pentateuch. On the other days, a video will show him at work. He will begin with the "Bereishit," the First Book of the Pentateuch, which begins with the sentence: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." He will also produce parchments for the mezuzah and tefillin and create a Ketubah.

Calligraphers in the Exhibition

In Asian cultures, calligraphy, or the art of beautiful writing, represents the highest form of art. In addition to Jewish illustrated manuscripts, the exhibition also features calligraphers demonstrating their Arabic, Latin and Chinese craftsmanship.

In an accompanying program, the museum invites guests to its first-ever art breakfast. On May 16, a symposium on the prohibition of images in Judaism and Islam takes place in the context of the Jewish-Islamic Forum.

The catalog "Schöne Seiten. Jüdische Schriftkultur aus der Braginsky Collection" edited by Emile Schrijver and Falk Wiesemann with Evelyn M. Cohen, Sharon Liberman Mintz and Menahem Schmelzer, is published by Scheidegger & Spiess AG (336 pages, 226 color illustrations, 45 euros).

Media partners: Wall AG, zitty Berlin, Slanted.de

Websites on the Braginsky Collection:

http://www.braginskycollection.ch (German)

http://www.braginskycollection.com (English)

http://www.braginskycollection.com/start_IM.php (Hebrew)

The free iPad App (in German and English) entitled "Braginsky Collection Berlin" was expanded for the exhibition and includes background information on the collection.

Social media:

Twitter: www.twitter.com/jmberlin Hashtag: #Braginsky

Series of Judaica Exhibitions in the Jewish Museum Berlin 2013-2015

For more than a decade, the Jewish Museum Berlin has been bringing a diverse range of temporary exhibitions to the public. Since 2013 the museum has been providing in-depth insight into the core questions of religious Judaism. "The Creation of the World. Illustrated Manuscripts from the Braginsky Collection" is part of an exhibition series by the Jewish Museum Berlin exploring Jewish thought, Jewish rituals, the development of ancient customs, handicraft and other religious traditions. While the focus of the exhibition "A Time for Everything" (2013/2014) was on the imperative of remembrance, the current show is dedicated to the scriptural tradition, one of the outstanding artistic accomplishments of Jewish culture. This fall, the exhibition "Snip it! Stances on Ritual Circumcision" will give insight into the complex subject of Jewish identity; in the spring of 2015, the exhibition "Akeda" will examine one of the most significant and most popular stories of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the Binding of Isaac.