News
A look back at 2025
December 29, 2025
The many moments of engagement and discovery this past calendar year have reminded us of the power of the Magnes’s collections to bring people together as a communal haven for experiencing joy and generating hope through the sharing of ideas and expansion of knowledge.
Connections & Discovery
Your Jewish Museum
From a henna party celebrating Middle Eastern Jewish wedding traditions and authors on Jewish life in the Muslim world to contemporary Jewish art and culinary programs sharing Sephardic and Jewish-Mexican recipes, 2025 brought diverse audiences together, creating a lively and essential space for collective discovery.
Celebrating Jewish Arts & Authors
In May, approximately 300 people packed the Magnes during our inaugural Jewish Arts & Bookfest. The joyful, daylong event headlined by Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket, brought together people of all ages from across the Bay Area in celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month. Save the date for the next Jewish Arts & Bookfest on Sunday, May 3, 2026
A House of Study
Generating new knowledge through shared exploration, 2025 saw the launch of the monthly Beit Midrash series. Creative, collaborative study sessions guided by the associate curator and guest educators, each program is inspired by the art and objects on view in Flowing through Time and Tradition.
Engaging the Next Generation
Young Visitors
With staff-led class gallery visits, hands-on workshops,Teens Take the Magnes volunteer committee and programs, and PJ Library Story Hour, the Magnes created opportunities in 2025 to inspire toddlers, children and teens to connect with Jewish culture and community.
Campus Teaching & Learning
As an extension of the UC Berkeley classroom, faculty from departments including History, Architecture, Jewish Studies, Linguistics, American Studies, History of Art, Social Sciences, and Middle Eastern Languages & Cultures brought students to the museum, integrating our holdings into their syllabi.
Student Research
Undergraduate Research Apprentices worked with curators to help digitize and research items in the collection. 2025 URAP projects included working with the Roman Vishniac Archive, postcard collection, and exhibition research with a presentation of their findings at the end of each semester.
The Collection
A New Exhibition
Opening in August and exploring the theme of water through the holdings of the Magnes, Flowing through Time and Tradition traces how this essential element flows through and shapes Jewish lives: enacting belief, sustaining life and communities, providing the means for spiritual cleansing, and mapping identities.
Behind the Scenes
Thanks to a generous grant from the Frederick J. Isaac Philanthropic Fund, the Magnes updated our exhibition fabrication workshop with much needed new tools and supplies, allowing us to create compelling and professional exhibitions and gallery materials more efficiently.
Digital Infrastructure
The Magnes launched an initiative to update our digital infrastructure. We audited more than 55,000 images and 16,000 catalog records and expanded public access on Flickr, paving the way to transition to a new Collection and Digital Asset Management System.
Staff Retirements
2025 brought the retirements of Senior Curator Francesco Spagnolo and Registrar & Collections Manager Julie Franklin. We are grateful for their twenty years of close collaboration to steward one of the most dynamic and internationally recognized Jewish museum collections in the world.
Our Community
Community Support
The Magnes was a place for connection, dialogue, and shared experiences because of our community. 2025 saw meaningful growth in philanthropic support, driven by the dedicated Friends of the Magnes and Leadership Circle, and collaborations with community partners from across the Bay Area.
— Learn more about supporting the Magnes.
Thank you
2025 has been a year filled with exciting programs and exhibitions, expanded community engagement, and insightful research and scholarship. The Magnes remains a communal haven for experiencing joy and generating hope through the sharing of ideas and expansion of knowledge.
Your gift today will enable us to create new opportunities for our community to learn from each other and explore the full range and complexity of Jewish experiences. If you haven’t yet made an end-of-year contribution, now is the perfect time.
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