Skirball’s Vision for All Visitors : Museum Aims to Broaden Focus on Jewish Culture

Director Nancy Berman pauses in front of the massive gray wall that marks the entryway to the permanent exhibition in the museum at the Skirball Cultural Center. Standing just slightly back, she gestures proudly toward this focal point inside the Moshe Safdie-designed $65-million complex that opens, in part, to the public Sunday.

“The permanent exhibition’s title, ‘Visions and Values: Jewish Life From Antiquity to America,’ is actually etched in stone,” she says, pointing at the words behind her. “You rarely get a chance to say that something really is etched in stone.”

But the symbolism is intentional. “It’s because [these visions and values] have lasted already for 4,000 years,” Berman says. “Our belief is that it’s eternally important to Jewish life and to the world.”

Accordingly, the center--which was founded by Dr. Uri D. Herscher and is located on a 15-acre site in the Sepulveda Pass--and the core exhibit that sets its tone have been designed with key Jewish values in mind, including inclusiveness, tolerance and communication.

It is, in other words, a Jewish institution that’s not just for Jews. “The basis for the museum [and the center] is to strengthen understanding and also to be a place of interaction for the people of Los Angeles, from, quite frankly, an intercultural point of view,” Berman says.

“We set out to create something that would be an attraction for a larger public,” adds program and core exhibit director Robert Kirschner. “It’s one in which every population can see themselves.”

With 15,000 square feet of space housing an array of artifacts, decorative and fine arts, memorabilia and Judaica from the 15th through the 20th centuries, the core exhibit space divides roughly in two. Says Berman: “The first half is the whole story and the second half is the American Jewish experience.”

From the first gallery forward, the exhibit design--which is both traditional and non-traditional and runs the gamut from architectural re-creations to video and computer terminals--is as evocative as the objects on display.

The first hallway, for example, is made of Jerusalem stone. “This is where we establish the ancient history,” Berman says. “It is, in essence, a rock.”

The stone corridor leads to an outside courtyard with a replica of an ancient mosaic at Tiberias and a re-creation of the ruins of a 6th century synagogue.

Back inside, several galleries showcase objects representing the various Jewish cultures after the diaspora. There’s an 18th century American spoon in one case, a 1850 Hanukkah lamp made for the Rothschild family in another, and, in still another, a 17th century Chinese Torah case that Berman describes as “one of the rarest objects of Judaica in the world.”

The next three galleries are about Jewish beliefs and celebrations.

In the first area, the topic is holidays, with displays about both historical and contemporary rituals, including a compilation of donated home videos of Seders and other rites.

“It was important to us that we [show] Judaism as a living, breathing tradition,” Berman says. “That’s why some of the objects are antique decorative arts, and some are very contemporary pieces.”

A circular gallery presents objects that symbolize key points in the life cycle, including circumcision, bar mitzvah and marriage. The display underscores the ways in which traditions have mutated across the years and countries.

“One of the aspects of the vitality of the Jewish people is what we call, in anthropology terms, adaptation and retention,” Berman says. “We’ve retained basic aspects of our customs, beliefs and ethics, but we adapt to the culture that we’re part of.”

The third and final gallery in this section is about worship. In a room washed in blue light, with a soundtrack of chants playing in the background, a reconstruction of the arc of a 19th century Berlin synagogue rises as the centerpiece.

Next, as the viewer enters a narrow hallway with 19th century portraits hung on walls that look like the hull of a ship, the sound of sloshing, breaking ocean waves conjures the cross-Atlantic journey.

“This is the passage to America,” Berman says. “Then, we turn the corner, and we’re bringing our Jewishness--whether it’s from the pogroms of Eastern Europe or London in the 1800s or Russia in 1985--to America.”

At the end of the hallway, in an open room, a replica of the Statue of Liberty’s torch stands in the center of a sea of blue tile and Ellis Island benches line one wall. The point is easily made: “This whole gallery is dedicated to immigration and liberty,” Berman says.

Following this, a series of smaller galleries and displays tell the story of immigrant indoctrination. Then, as you near the end of the core exhibit, you pass through a dark hallway with outsized photographs of “six of the 6 million,” followed by a room with images of modern Israel.

“We’re not a Holocaust museum, but one can’t really tell the story of American Jewish history or identity without commenting on the Holocaust and Israel,” Berman explains. “There’s so much history that’s intertwined.”

After a concluding section on the pursuits of American Jews, the viewer has returned to the entryway, and the beginning of the temporary exhibits.

“Becoming American Women,” a survey put together by the Chicago Historical Society, is on view through Aug. 25. “It uses fashion as the symbol of acculturation,” Berman says. Also on view through June 2 is “Henry Mosler Rediscovered,” a Skirball-curated retrospective of the 19th century painter.

The museum’s future shows will include a more contemporary bent. In September the Skirball will present “A Celebration of New Beginnings,” for which several artists--including Adrian Saxe, Erika Rothenberg, Tony Berlant and John Outterbridge--have been commissioned to make works on the theme of a traditional Jewish prayer.

Though the museum’s exhibits open Sunday, the Skirball Center won’t really be in full swing until the fall. Film and concert series, exhibit-related symposiums and more will be offered in the 125,000-square-foot complex, which also includes a 350-seat auditorium, a Discovery Center for young people, a conference center and a restaurant.

For now, however, those involved hope that the museum will help get the word out that the multipurpose facility is meant for everyone in L.A.

“It’s not an exercise in ethnic vanity at all,” Kirschner says. “People use the term ‘culturally specific,’ but we’re seeking to transcend that kind of definition. We’re trying to create an institution that has an impact on the broader community.”

* Skirball Museum, Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 12-5 p.m.; closed Monday. $4-$6 (under 12 free). (310) 440-4500.