The Temple Judea Museum (TJM) is the only Jewish museum in Montgomery county, and is the only museum in the entire Philadelphia region that collects, preserves and displays objects relating to the entire history of the Jewish people through original, curated changing exhibitions. While the Temple Judea Museum is a family museum, located within a very active community synagogue, our visitors come from far and near.

THE TEMPLE JUDEA MUSEUM ARTISTS' COLLABORATIVE

TJM is the only museum in this region with an active cohort of practicing artists. Artists of the Collaborative carry out curatorial projects, work with adults and children, exhibit, research the permanent collection, and are integral to the identity of TJM.

OTHER PROJECTS

TJM has created the Arts Alive Gallery, a professionally run art gallery that is a part of the Kenesesth Israel (KI) preschool. This may be the only gallery of its kind in this entire country. The museum administers the archives of the Jacob Landau "Prophetic Quest" window project and, also, KI's memorial Torah scrolls collection.

LEADERSHIP

TJM director and curator is Rita Rosen Poley, an experienced museum curator, writer and an artist herself. For many years she was the arts critic and columnist for the Jewish Exponent. TJM is led by a committee chaired by Karen Shain Schloss, artist calligrapher. TJM Friends' Membership chair is Norma Meshkov.

PERMANENT COLLECTION

Our highly regarded permanent collection of over 5,000 objects consists of antique and contemporary Judaica, Israeliana, rare books, historic and art photography, ephemera, paintings, works on paper, 3-D crafts, folk objects, music, a fine assortment of antiquities from ancient Israel, a comprehensive textile collection, prints, WWII and much more. The collection contains artifacts from countries around the world including: the United States, Italy, Germany, Poland, Russia, Egypt, Turkey, France, Hungary, Holland, England and Israel. In an ongoing effort, a dedicated group of volunteers is working to make the entire TJM collection available online. Parts of the collection are now searchable online.

Click Here to Travel Through the Museum with our Director and Curator, Rita Rosen Poley!

A Common Theme ,Transformations , A Haggadah Takes Us on a Tour

Installation: Mordechai Rosenstein, 2020

EXHIBITIONS

TJM original exhibitions draw from our permanent collection and from invited contemporary artists and collections. Subjects and media are varied and express the full range of the stories of the Jewish people.   In addition to active exhibition and program schedules, the museum offers tours to visiting adult and school groups of exhibitions and “The Prophetic Quest,” the monumental stained glass windows of Jacob Landau, which grace the KI synagogue’s Korn Memorial Sanctuary. On our new YouTube channel, we are pleased to bring you virtual video experiences of our most recent exibits!

See our current exhibition.

See our Past Exhibitions.

Search Our Online Collections.

MISSION

The mission of the Temple Judea Museum begins with its permanent collection through exhibitions; preservation; acquisition; and its value as an educational tool. An active exhibition schedule showcases both historic and contemporary collections, and the museum regards contemporary art as essential to a fully realized Jewish visual experience. The museum's Artists Collaborative is an essential part of all museum activities.

TJM is a Project Stream recipient of funds from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Project Stream selection is a recognition of a high standard of arts programming and curatorial excellence.

Top Image - Left to Right: (All from the TJM permanent collection)
David Ben Gurion and his wife, Paula at their Sde Boker home.

"Shamar: The Silent Prophets", Artist, Robert Dennis
Breast Plate (19th century)

A FEW HIGHLIGHTS

• A major collection of silver ceremonial objects.
• The second oldest American ketubah (marriage contract) from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 1778.
• An embroidered Torah wimpel (binder), one of the oldest known to have survived the Holocaust, made from an infant's swaddling cloth, 1695
• A unique, contemporary Elijah's Chair, used in covenant ceremonies, commissioned by the Friends of the Museum.
• A religious commentary printed in Venice, Italy, 1574.

Distinctive Ketubah Collection~ Click Here for More Information!

The TJ Museum sells a limited edition silver kiddush cup designed by American silver artist, Maryl Sheetz.Click here for details on how to purchase.

ACTIVITIES

In addition to its collection and preservation activities, TJM operates an annual schedule of changing original exhibitions that are free and open to the community. These exhibitions vary widely in content and theme, but the educational content of an exhibition is always of paramount importance. Exhibitions may be drawn exclusively from the collection while others extend the reach and scope of the museum beyond the limits of the collection.

Past curatorial efforts have focused on the Jews of Ethiopia, Jewish soldiers in the Civil War, Israel, Jewish rituals of the life cycle, the Holocaust, comic books as an expression of Jewish experience, hand-made books, the WWII Home-front, art of the bible and much more.

The members of the TJM Artists' Collaborative bring a dynamic force to the museum experience and are involved in every aspect of its visual and cultural life. Members of the Collaborative are essential to the museum's newest effort: The Arts Alive Gallery - our professionally run art gallery exclusively for the children of KI's Rudolf preschool.

Lectures and tours, drawing visitors from different religious and ethnic groups, are offered. Senior, church, and school groups are among the many visitors the museum welcomes each year from our local community, Greater Philadelphia, many states of the union, and abroad. Museum volunteers conduct specialized tours of the synagogue’s famous suite of stained glass windows, "The Prophetic Quest" by noted artist, Jacob Landau.

Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel (KI) is home to two Torah scrolls known as the Westminster Scrolls. Both scrolls are under the supervision of the Memorial Scrolls Trust, based in London, England. KI's Temple Judea Museum (TJM) holds almost 100 objects (fine arts and original artifacts) in a discreet collection titled, "Art and Objects of Oppression and Resistance".

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Click here to view images of the pieces accepted to the Library of Congress permanent collection.

The Temple Judea Museum (TJM) is represented in the permanent collection of the Library of Congress (LC) through three objects. In 2005, the museum's Proclaim Liberty Kiddush cup became a part of the LC Hebraica Division. This limited edition, sterling silver cup was created by TJM in 2004 in celebration of the 350th anniversary of the arrival of Jews in America.

In 2016, Marlene Adler, a TJM Collaborative artist, photographed the Keneseth Israel building exterior architecture. Those photographs were accepted into a juried exhibition about Pennsylvania Modernist Architecture sponsored by the PA State Museum in Harrisburg. Two of Marlene's photographs from that exhibition are now a part of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

The architect of the KI building was Israel Demchick who was an authority on synagogue design and on the design of institutions for the elderly. He was appointed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to head the first national committee to investigate geriatric needs in architecture.  Demchick joined the AlA in 1923. He donated a chair in architecture to the Hebrew University in Israel and was named the school's Man of the Year in 1971.

The Temple Judea Museum celebrates the recognition of its artists and projects by this nation's premier library, The Library of Congress. Note: A limited number of Proclaim Liberty kiddush cups and prints of Marlene Adler's photographs are available for purchase.

Hours:

Staff:

For more information, or to set up a group tour, call the Museum at 215-887-8700 ext. 416 or e-mail us by clicking here.

The Temple Judea Museum is a Program Stream awardee of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts

and a proud member of the American Alliance of Museums