Stellusz place

עַל נַהֲרוֹת בָּבֶל שָׁם יָשַׁבְנוּ, גַּם-בָּכִינוּ, בְּזָכְרֵנוּ אֶת צִיּוֹן.

Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center is a valuable and wonderful institution whose aim is to commemorate the glorious legacy of the Jews of Babylonia.

The idea for establishing The Center was at the initiative of Mordechai Ben-Porat.

The Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center was established in 1973 to preserve the history of the Jewish community in Iraq and to ensure that it remains part of the future narrative of the Jewish nation. To this end, the Center fosters research, preservation and publication of the culture and folklore of Iraqi Jewry.

Adjacent to the Center is the Museum of Babylonian Jewry, opened to the public in 1988 and exhibiting chapters from the history of Babylonian Jewry throughout the generations over the course of more than 2,600 years.

Most of Babylonian Jewry immigrated to the land of Israel during the heroic Operation Ezra and Nehemia in 1950-1951. The story of the absorption of the members of this community is astounding. They reached the highest positions in academia, science, arts, culture and sport, economics and society, politics, the IDF and defense system, public activism and philanthropy. Those who escaped Iraq and moved to Europe, the United States, Canada and other countries also reached impressive achievements and contributed to the countries where they settled.

The Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center in Or Yehuda was founded to immortalize the heritage of a diaspora community which no longer exists. It is the largest center in the world for documenting, researching, collecting and preserving the spiritual treasures and art created by Babylonian Jewry. The Center was not designated to represent Iraqi Jewry alone and advance its interests. Rather, the opposite is true: the Center documents and perpetuates the extensive story of the heritage of the oldest of Jewish communities, an opulent heritage which became a part of the entire Jewish nation. This is what makes the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center so distinctive.

“The Center attracts thousands of visitors each year who discover the history and culture of Babylonian Jewry and are exposed to its unique treasures. Every year, we expand the museum and open new exhibits with the assistance of the museum’s friends and supporters in Israel and worldwide. There is still much work ahead of us. The large room of safes at the Center includes valuable heritage and historic items waiting for the museum to expand so that we can incorporate them in new exhibits.” Prof. Efraim Sadka, Chairman

“As the Center’s Managing Director, I consider as one of my greatest challenges bringing in younger people and encouraging the middle and younger generations to participate in the Center’s wide range of activities. I want our younger community members and their families to enlarge and deepen their understanding of Babylonian Jewish history and culture, thereby helping to preserve the legacy of our parents and grandparents.

I will do my utmost to attract people of the most varied backgrounds to the Center, to see the exhibitions, use the resources, enjoy events at the Center, and to experience the beauty of our culture…” Aliza Dayan-Hamama, Managing Director

https://www.bjhcenglish.com/

The Kitchen – a new permanent exhibition at the Babylonian Jewish Heritage Center

The exhibition is located on the entrance floor of the museum.

Complete the restoration of the Jewish home in Iraq. Includes new odor distribution technology.

Address: Babylonian Jewish Heritage Center, 83 Mordechai Ben Porat Blvd., Or Yehuda

We will have a festive opening event on 1.4.2022

Guided visits:

* On Fridays there is a guided tour in Hebrew, by appointment, by phone 03-5339278 extension 3 or by email guide@bjhc.org.il

Curator: Orly Bahar Levy, Assistant Curator: Nava Mutzafi

Design: Token Design Studio, Video Work: Nevat Yitzhak

«In Shula’s Kitchen», Director: Eyal Ronen, Historical Consulting: Dr. Zvi Yehuda

A donation of one million shekels, which arrived at the «Center for the Heritage of Babylonian Jewry», is the culmination of the establishment of a Hahasha exhibition, which reviews the role of the kitchen and the Jewish woman. This is part of an ongoing process of restoring the Jewish home in Iraq.

Baghdad’s Jewish community lives in large multi-generational households. Married guys brought their girlfriends to the house.

Combining sights, stories, and smells, this experiential exhibition focuses on Iraqi Jewish cuisine in the early decades of the 20th century, both in terms of visibility and culinary traditions; Where is it located in the structure of the traditional Jewish home, what will make it unique, what is the blatant dynamic that has developed around it, and how is it preserved today, outside of Iraq.

The exhibition features original articles, photographs and reconstructions.

The video work projected onto original aluminum trays from the museum’s collection was commissioned for this exhibition from the artist Nevat Yitzhak. The work focuses on the manual movement of second generation bakers, gypsies and spice pharmacists, who with their skillful hands preserve the traditional working methods of Iraqi cuisine, outside the country of origin. Linking the past with the present, this work emphasizes the importance of culinary traditions as cultural heritage assets and the role of the film medium as custodian and documenter of these traditions.

The kitchen is located next to the museum’s restored courtyard, through which the kitchen was accessed. This patio was open to the sky, surrounded by the different spaces of the house and from which one went up to the second floor by means of a staircase.

The courtyard displays a traditional tool for making rose water, a rocking cradle, as well as paintings of kitchen scenes by Baghdad-native artist Eli Sudai.

Sudai describes in a realistic and naive style the memories of him from the point of view of a child. His works are in the nature of «narrative art», describing in detail the structure of the traditional Jewish home in Baghdad and the way of life. His works have been loaned to the museum especially for the launch of the kitchen exhibition and provide complementary visual information about the actions carried out in the courtyard.