Shaping Time: The Art and Culture of the Jewish Calendar

FAIN: GE-280430-21

Yeshiva University (New York, NY 10033-3201)
Paul Glassman (Project Director: January 2021 to present)

Planning of a 3,000-square-foot exhibition on the history of the Jewish calendar.

The calendar plays a key role in shaping society, regulating religious practice and economic life, structuring social and professional interaction, and defining communal and personal identity. Though the calendar is central to Jewish culture, it has never been the subject of an exhibition. Shaping Time will present the Jewish calendar as a dynamic system that has evolved over time in response to scientific developments, internal and external disputes, and the vicissitudes of Jewish history. The calendar has played a crucial role in the interactions between various Jewish communities and the surrounding dominant cultures, representing points of influence, exchange, and conflict. The exhibition will explore calendars as agents of societal cohesion and personal identity, and as instigators of debate and platforms for polemic. It will display the calendar as a locus of Jewish creativity and imagination and bring to life the calendars vital role in shaping human experience.