Exhibiting history or history in a showcase

Abstract

Museums in contemporary society are significant carriers of multicultural currents and continue to attract the attention of diverse elements of the population. Whereas the museum of the nineteenth century was heralded by Carl Schorske as one of the "favorite vehicles to convey.., messages to posterity, ''l its successor in the late twentieth century could be seen as a forum where "confrontation, experimentation, and debate, "2 take place, and in which the diverse happenings, artistic and commercial, mingle intentionally with the objects on view. Jewish museums are indeed part of that development and they have emerged as central features of contemporary Jewish existence, commanding greater and greater attention as they draw on the dramatic changes in Jewish life since the Holocaust and on the financial success of many Jewish entrepreneurs. Yet, even in countries where Jewish life was brought to a hault by the Holocaust, museums treating aspects of Jewish religion and culture have flourished and are often distinguished by remarkable vitality and dedication of their staff. For many at the end of the twentieth century the encounter with aspects of Jewish culture and tradition, past and present, takes place more often within the context of the museum than within other milieus, turning it into a challenging setting to raise issues and problems of a historical and cultural nature. And, certainly, for anyone interested in weaving cultural and artistic artifacts into the historical past, and vice versa, the museum venue enables objects to emerge from their individual, fragmented state and be transformed. 3 Attention of Judaic scholars to the transmission of culture underway in the contemporary museum setting seems to be emerging, though it is still in its infancy. Elliott Horowitz's contribution in this direction is thus all the more welcome and significant. Albeit, the distance scholars took from developments in Jewsh museums was related both to their intrinsic and passive acceptance of the supposed non