Living by The Book: The Jewish Bible and the Everyday Power of Text
The Bible is a constant in Jewish life, in all the varied forms it has taken around the world and across history. Biblical texts stand at the center of the Jewish experience—Jews keep biblical time, cultivate biblical bodies, and build and imagine biblical spaces.
click on the image above to view a slideshow of exhibition images
Living by The Book brings together scrolls, ritual objects, clothing, furniture, and tourist memorabilia from The Magnes Collection that express culture in biblical terms with remarkable diversity and creativity, showcasing the ways text can serve as an archive of possibilities and a powerful platform for shaping everyday life..
Francesco Spagnolo, Curator
Daniel Fisher, Doctoral Candidate in Near Eastern Studies and Magnes Graduate Fellow (2014-2015)
Living by The Book (2015) Exhibition Catalog
Major support for The Magnes comes from the Hellman Foundation, the Koret Foundation, the Magnes Museum Foundation, Taube Philanthropies, the Magnes Leadership Circle, and the The Office of the Chancellor at the University of California, Berkeley.
Research for Living by The Book was made possible in part by funds provided by the Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion, the Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program (URAP), and Digital Humanities at Berkeley.
The curators wish to thank Professor Mauro Perani (University of Bologna, Italy) and John Shepard ( Jean Gray Hargrove Music Library, UC Berkeley) for their assistance.
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