"How to become a Jew? Everyday life and traditions of Jewish childhood"

The Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center presents the exhibition “How to Become a Jew? Everyday life and traditions of Jewish childhood ”. She will talk about rituals, games and artifacts that make up the children’s world in a Jewish family.

Any national culture consists of rituals and ceremonies that form self-awareness, a sense of belonging to their people and the connection between generations. Jewish traditions and customs are passed down within the family through fascinating stories, actions, gifts and other memorable events. Many periods of a child’s life have their own ritual forms: circumcision, ransom, first haircut, first day of school, coming of age.

As soon as the child grows up a little, the parents introduce him to the Jewish holidays. Children actively participate in the Passover Seder, a special family dinner at the start of Passover; spinning rattles on Purim; parade with flags to the synagogue on Simchat Torah - on this day, the annual cycle of Torah reading ends; receive gifts and money for Hanukkah; girls light Shabbat candles on Saturdays.

Children’s memory is selective and associative, it keeps everything unusual. Anything that disrupts the daily routine: the taste of holiday food, special Easter dishes, klezmer sounds and Purimshpiel costumes. It is a person’s childhood memories that construct the collective knowledge of their own culture.

The exhibition will be integrated into the main exposition of the museum as a playful, fascinating space, consistently telling about various aspects of growing up, upbringing and education: from birth to bar- or bat-mitzvah (Jewish coming of age). Games, textbooks and traditional attributes of ceremonies and rituals can be tried on or touched; they will be presented along with the first editions of children’s books illustrated by El Lissitzky, Isaac Rybak, Meer Axelrod. Together with them, the exhibition will show historical artifacts originating from different communities, from the 17th century to the present day.

Items for the exhibition will be provided by the Museum of the History of Jews in Russia, the Petersburg Judaica Center, the Museum of Religion in St. Petersburg, as well as private collections.

Exhibition curators: Liya Chechik, Maria Kaspina, Arel Grinberg.