The Jewish Living Experience Exhibition, which is designed to give an interactive insight into Jewish life, culture, religion and practices in the UK, has been showing at a variety of venues throughout the country over the past two years since the display was overhauled and relaunched.
Among the synagogues which has hosted the exhibition as a teaching tool for local children is Catford and Bromley Synagogue.
The synagogue’s Deputy, Carole Abrahams has spoken about the pleasures as well as the difficulties of mounting the exhibition.
She recalled: “I was asked if Catford and Bromley could run the JLEE and as I was the shul’s Deputy, it landed on me to organise it. We were fortunate to get the support of the local SACRE and Anna Silver, the Board’s Education Officer, was very supportive, as was Sheila Gewolb (the Board’s former Senior Vice President who worked on the exhibition’s re-launch).”
Carole said that the shul was fortunate in being able to use its Club House to stage the event. Publicity was generated through a launch event which was attended by Board of Deputies President Phil Rosenberg, the Bishop of Woolwich, the Deputy Lieutenant of Lewisham, Sir Steve Bullock (who is an old friend of Catford Shul), the Mayor of Lewisham, the new Archdeacon, and other religious and political leaders.
The exhibition was held soon after the end of Sukkot last year and a decision was made to keep the Sukkah up for the schoolchildren to investigate. “We took them into the Sukkah, talked about the festival and handed round a couple of etrogim, for them to hold and examine. We also have them orange squash and biscuits.
“After the Sukkah we took them into the synagogue itself. Where we could show them more than just the exhibits. For example, we opened the Ark and took out a Sefer Torah, which we opened for them to look at, and they stood on the bimah and looked around the shul.”
Carole felt that the schoolchildren who got the most from the exhibition came from schools with teachers who cared and made an effort. “A couple of the teachers who led groups were terrific. We heard that children who had seen it went back and told the other children how much they’d enjoyed it, so that when the next class came, they were already enthusiastic. The message we were trying to get over to them was that being Jewish is enjoyable. They could see the Sukkah and could get an idea about our festivals.”
She added that some of the children had various learning difficulties which sometimes made it difficult for them to get the most out of the exhibition, but most had enjoyed the visit and got something out of it.
An unexpected bonus to holding the exhibition was the way it brought the community together. Carole said: “The Covid period and lockdowns really damaged the community. For a while, the shul stopped being the centre of people’s lives, and we have been in the process of trying to rebuild it. And really the Jewish living exhibition was the beginning of that as we had such a great team of volunteer helpers and hosts. It was very hard work at times, but it was a positive experience that I would recommend to other communities which have the capacity to stage it.”
If you are interested in staging the Jewish Living Experience Exhibition, please email anna.silver@bod.org.uk for more details.