The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre
My colleague and friend Viv has spoken eloquently about the role museums
generally can play in shaping social thinking today. I intend to look at a
specific group of museums – namely Jewish museums, but most particularly at
the museum I know best, the Jewish Museum of Australia.
In the pluralist societies of the New World, the major issue facing museums
such as ours is the question of minority identity within the multicultural
mosaic. For the minority group it is the issue of the maintenance of its own
identity. For the nation as a whole it is the preservation of a vibrant,
rich and diverse society.
Jewish Museums have two distinct audiences – the Jewish and the wider
communities. Their interaction with each, differs, as does also their role
in developing changes in social thinking in their two audiences.
JEWISH COMMUNITY
Let us first consider the impact and role of Jewish museums within the
context of the Jewish world today. In order to do that, let us look at the
situation of Jewish communities in the New World – such as Australia. We are
looking at a post-Holocaust, predominantly secular, liberal democratic,
western world Diaspora. Jews in these societies are struggling with the
question of what Jewish identity means today, both as individuals and
communally.
Emily Blinski of the Jewish Museum NY, explains:
(From the mid 1960s) "... a new need was felt within the Jewish community, a
need to explore the myriad components of Jewish identity. In the wake of the
civil rights movement, Americans from many different ethnic backgrounds
began to question the desirability of the 'melting pot' ethic. Pride in the
unique cultural legacies of parents and grandparents and the wish to keep
those legacies alive for the benefit of future generations, supplanted the
earlier desire to blend inconspicuously into the general fabric of American
life. For Jews, this trend was further enhanced by pride in the
accomplishments of Israel and by developments in Holocaust education. The
necessity of coming to terms with the enormity of what had been lost lent
new urgency to understanding and preserving what remained. For affiliated
Jews, culture became another arena for the expression of the revitalization
of their communities. For those Jews who had rejected religious traditions,
Jewish culture and history became a medium through which Jewish identity
could be reaffirmed..." [end of quote]
In this environment, Jewish Museums have burgeoned and gained a new
authority. They have become positive contributors to the continuity and
shaping of Jewish identity.
In January 2003 I attended a Conference of the Council of American Jewish
Museums. One of the key note speakers was Dr Jonathan Sarna, Professor of
American Jewish History, Brandeis University, who defined clearly the role
he sees for American Jewish Museums and I must say his words ring true for
me for the Australian situation also.
Sarna stressed that persecution, expulsion and mass murder are not themes
central to American Jewish life. Instead, the central theme is how Jews have
flourished in a pluralist society. Pluralism and openness to religious
tolerance are enshrined in the American constitution.
The challenge, according to Sarna, is the transformation of Jewish life
because of freedom, and the perils that freedom pose to Jewish life, in that
Jews are being “loved to death”. He quoted the sobering statistics of
intermarriage and a diminution of the American Jewish population from 3.7%
to 2 %. And yet he contrasted this with a cultural vibrancy among American
Jews that has led to a cultural renaissance, reflected for instance in the
large number of Jewish museums.
In Australia the intermarriage rate is about 25% and rising, and so the
issue of Jewish continuity has resonance here as well.
Professor Sarna defined the paradox facing American Jews, and by extension
American Jewish museums: how can we reconcile the values of integration with
the simultaneous value of difference?
It is indeed to Jewish museums that many Jews come to seek to understand
what being Jewish means to them. And therefore the onus is on the Museum to
provide an informative and non-threatening environment for such explorations
of identity. And this happens frequently at our museum, where Jews who live
on the margin of the community or who are seeking to reconnect or redefine
or understand what being Jewish means to them, not only visit but become
involved as volunteers and as staff.
The JMA is deliberately inclusive and pluralist in the Judaism which it
displays and defines. It reflects the religious core of Judaism, but in ALL
its strains of observance, as well as Jewish culture and history, the
heritage that all Jews share. It explores our collective memory and
validates personal memories.
By showing that being Jewish is enriching, and by celebrating being Jewish
in Australia, a Jewish museum can confirm the value of identifying as a
people, a culture, or a religion. How one identifies then becomes the choice
of the individual. Also the educational possibilities inherent in museum
exhibitions and public programs encourage more Jewish learning and a
better-educated, more knowledgeable Jewish community.
The JMA adopts an informative but not judgemental approach because Jewish
museums are not religious, but CULTURAL institutions. They therefore reflect
on a community as it is, not as Jewish law dictates it should be. It is
therefore democratising – accepting all Jews as they are, opening doors and
opening minds. Gay and lesbian Jews, for instance, are represented and
therefore can feel at home within the Museum’s story.
Now…
Beyond the personal influence, a Jewish museum can be most effective in
enhancing a sense of community, especially if it is a community museum such
as the JMA.
The Australian Jewish community is not static, not homogenous, but
multifaceted in religious expression, political affiliation and Jewish
identification. It is dynamic, vibrant, passionate and indeed fractious. It
is the Museum’s responsibility to strive to reflect the diversity of this
community, so that all Australian Jews can feel that we reflect their
experience and speak with their voice - to be inclusive and pluralist in the
Judaism we represent.
As George MacDonald has said, "If museums are to play a useful and relevant
role in a multicultural society, they must be institutions that represent
the viewpoints of all their constituents. These views may often be at odds
with one another; but if we can accept the notion that no interpretation is
truly definitive, that all are subjective, it will be easier to develop a
tolerance for ambiguity and dissonance."
Only thus can we as a museum provide a safe environment where the different
factions within our community can together reconsider, debate and redefine
what it means to be Jewish and Australian at the beginning of the 21st
Century.
This is what we aim for in many of our programs.
e.g
(i) Community exhibitions – The Russian Jewish community, for example, came
to us asking for an exhibition about their history and their migration
story, because they have felt marginalised from the rest of the community.
They hoped that through this exhibition the rest of the Jewish community
would learn about them and would see that their story is part of the
continuum of the Australian Jewish story. The exhibition, From Russia with
Hope, engendered a collaborative partnership with the museum and
successfully built bridges between the Russians and the wider community.
(ii) Contemporary art – the JMA actively includes contemporary art within
our agenda so that artists and their younger audiences can contribute and
develop a sense of connection with the museum and with the issues that the
museum explores.
(iii) Social issue exhibitions – e.g. Under the Covers: Love Sex and
Intimacy in Jewish Life (in 2003) and this year we are planning Death,
Burial and Beyond – exhibitions that explore basic issues from religious,
historical and contemporary perspectives.
(iv) Historical exhibitions about the Australian Jewish community, such as
Schmatte Business – Jews in the Garment Trade, Bagel Belt – The Jews of St
Kilda and Caulfield, Holidaying in Hepburn Springs
The JMA is most effective in creating pride within its community by
representing the community through an excellent program, a welcoming
institution and an ambitious, successful outreach program. We strive to be a
museum that our community is proud to own.
THE WIDER AUSTRALIAN PUBLIC
The other audience for a Jewish Museum is the non-Jewish public – in the
case of the JMA - the 99.6% of other Australians.
As Jews congregate in urban centres and make up a tiny percentage of the
population, many Australians have never met a Jew. Also, frighteningly, anti
Semitism is on the rise globally, even in Australia where in 2003, there
were 481 reported anti-Semitic attacks, almost double the numbers reported
annually since WW2. It is therefore increasingly urgent for us to reach as
many people as possible who are ignorant of Judaism.
It is important for the museum to demystify Judaism and dispel
misunderstandings. We at the JMA aim to ensure visitors an accessible,
educational and engaging experience which will leave them a clearer
appreciation of the rich diversity of Judaism and of Australian Jewish life.
Therefore state and church schools are one of our major target audiences for
whom we develop many education programs.
For a non-Jew, a Jewish museum in Australia is about Australia itself,
firstly because it represents one part of the country’s mosaic; secondly, a
Jewish museum demonstrates, by example, how Australia could enable all
marginalized groups to make a difference, to change the course of history
and to transform their own piece of the world.
By presenting the complex relationship between minority and majority
communities within a culture, a Jewish Museum can work to underscore the
need for every individual to make moral choices for the benefit of the
entire society. In a country in which we have found a home, which we call
our own, we must, as Jews, strive to ensure that the rights enjoyed by us
are enjoyed by all citizens. As Jewish museums we must emulate Talmudic
values ethically and morally - to do unto others as we wish them to do unto
us.
So, a primary role of the Jewish Museum of Australia is to promote the value
of diversity, the blessings of living in a free and liberal society.
To this end, it is important as museums to explore, from the perspective of
our own history, the costs of racism, of scapegoating, of prejudice. This
particularly applies to our Holocaust museums.
Last year, both the Migration Museum in Adelaide and the JMA proudly
presented the exhibition: Art Spiegelman: Maus. We did so, not only because
of the artistic and comic genius of Spiegelman, but more importantly because
this story of a Holocaust survivor has a universal application in
harrowingly conveying the ultimate costs of racism, of stereotyping, of
bullying, of prejudice, but through the comic medium accessible to younger
people. And indeed it was successful in attracting a large number of young
people.
Such a work as Art Spiegelman’s Maus, and the exhibition which unveiled its
historical and artistic origins, provided a timely lesson of how dangerous
it is to lose respect for those who are different. Our pluralism is fragile,
easily threatened and most precious to strive to preserve.
We at the Jewish Museum therefore also celebrate positively the values of
living in a multicultural society. We open our doors to cross-cultural
dialogue and provide a safe environment for discussion and debate about such
issues.
Our next exhibition is a case in point Intersections: Reading the Space:
Judaism, Christianity and Islam is a contemporary art exhibition featuring
the work of three women artists who all work within their cultural
traditions: Irene Barberis – an Australian Christian; Parastou Forouhar, an
Iranian Muslim living in Frankfurt, and Jane Logemann a New York Jew. As
well as showcasing their own work the three artists have created a joint
work which has circulated between them over one year and has provided an
artistic venue for communication. This exhibition is about exploring how art
can challenge cultural boundaries without eliminating the beauty of
difference.
The Museum is also developing a Schools Harmony project to complement the
exhibition. 5 groups of girls from Jewish, Catholic, Islamic and state
schools, and a group of Koori girls are coming together to create an art
exhibition in our access gallery at the same time as Intersections is on
display. This project will encourage the students to work together,
creatively celebrating their differences.
There is no question about the intent of Museums to affect social change.
But how can one know if museums are successful in influencing their
visitors’ preconceptions, biases and ideas, and if their visitors carry away
the values and ideas intended by the Museum curators? No-one can yet
confidently guarantee that any of these activities or indeed any museum
displays actually have long term benefit and change social thinking in a
large sense. One cannot quantify and measure social impact, although some
leading experts in museum evaluation are working on it now.
But one can quote anecdotal evidence and hope that this indicates that the
thinking and attitudes of some individual visitors have been permanently
influenced.
So let me finish with three such anecdotes within my experience at the JMA.
(i) Quote from visitor book of Russian visitors during the Russian
exhibition
“My husband and me have no words to express our impression. It’s wonderful
and great and very on time. We are very proud of all Jewish people. In
Russia we have never dreamt that we would have an opportunity to see it. We
are so grateful to all the organizers” (16/10/02 Maya Jarmulnik)
(ii) At an exhibition about the Australian Jewish Family entitled “Circles
and Cycles” in 1998, two orthodox Jewish women were viewing a video
depicting different kinds of couples talking about what was Jewish about
their relationship. When they had listened to a lesbian couples’ views, one
remarked casually to the other “I suppose we have them in our community
too”. - Quite significant in light of the perceived prohibition against
homosexuality in Jewish law.
And finally:
(iii) A student who visited our museum wrote: The Jewish Museum I lornt that
every person in the howl world is diferent and speshil
