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Skirball Cultural Center

Photo inside the exhibition Vision and values showing a replica of the statues of liberty hand holding the torch among a large photo mural of immigrants on Ellis Island

Visions and Values

Jewish Life from Antiquity to America

Ongoing

Engage with four thousand years of Jewish history and discover how ancestral visions shape modern values.

Plan Your Visit

Admission

BUY/RESERVE NOW

OR

BUY/RESERVE NOW WITH NOAH'S ARK TIMED ENTRY

$18 General 
$13 Seniors, Full-Time Students with ID, and Children 2–17
FREE to Members and Children under 2 
FREE to all on Thursdays

General Admission tickets provide visitors access to all exhibitions on view at the Skirball, including Visions and Values. Visitors who would like to board Noah’s Ark, which requires timed entry, should purchase a separate Noah's Ark ticket (which also includes general admission access).

Passover Docent Chats

Learn about the holiday of Passover from a Skirball docent. Passover Docent Chats will be offered every Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday for the month of April, and every day on the week of Passover.

2:30–3:00 pm

About the Exhibition

Featuring changing displays of works from the Skirball’s permanent collection of Judaica—one of the largest in the world—this historically illuminating exhibition chronicles the struggles and achievements of the Jewish people over a span of four thousand years.

Travel through the many lands and civilizations where Jews have lived and discover how ancestral visions continue to shape modern values. The Visions and Values galleries—Beginnings, Journeys, Holidays, Lifecycle, Synagogue, Passage to America, Nation of Immigrants, Struggle and Opportunity, the Holocaust, the State of Israel, and At Home in America—take the visitor on an unforgettable voyage of learning and discovery.

“I am always awed by the Visions and Values exhibition.”

Related Programs/Exhibitions

Exhibition Highlights

Peter Krasnow, The Wanderers, Los Angeles, California, 1927

Peter Krasnow, The Wanderers, Los Angeles, California, 1927

Gift of Peter and Rose Krasnow. SCC 41.289

Oil painting of family gathered around dining table; man at head of table is reclining, asleep

Moritz Oppenheim, Sabbath Afternoon, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, c. 1866

Oil on canvas

Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, Inc. SCC 41.135

Cloth torah cover

Peachy Levy, Torah Mantle, Santa Monica, California, 1991

Wool, embroidered and appliqued with cotton and metallic thread

Skirball Museum Commission. SCC 60.138

Quilt

Ellis Island Quilt

The quilt pictured above was created by the Hamish Amish Quilters of Van Nuys, California. This community of Jewish quilters incorporated photographic images of family members and historical events, depicting the story of nineteenth-century Central and Eastern European Jewish immigrants. Thirty individual patches surround an image of the Statue of Liberty and American Jewish poet Emma Lazarus’s famous words, “Give me your tired . . . / Your poor . . . .” A personal tribute to a shared experience.

Hamish Amish Quilters, Ellis Island Quilt, Van Nuys, CA. Textile. Gift of the Hamish Amish Quilters and their families. Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles. 25.238.

colorful box shaped like a house

Tzedakah Box by Tony Berlant

When the artist Tony Berlant created this tzedakah box, he wanted to highlight the value of Jewish charity—anonymously helping those in need. By overlaying the brick structure with imagery of a bountiful harvest, Berlant conveys the basic human needs for food and shelter.

Tony Berlant, Tzedakah Box, Los Angeles, California, 1994. Found tin collage over plywood with steel brads. Skirball Museum commission with funds provided by the Museum Membership. SCC 1.33

Photo of women social workers, book, stethoscope, doctor's case, medal

Lillian Wald, Social Worker

Highlighting the work of Lillian Wald (1867–1940), a New York social worker/nurse, this display within Visions and Values emphasizes the importance of social welfare in American Jewish values.

Display on social Reformer Lillian Wald. Photo by Robert Wedemeyer.

Room with table set for sabbath meal

Sabbath Afternoon Tableau

Based on the painting Sabbath Afternoon by Moritz Oppenheim (pictured next), this display within Visions and Values brings to life Oppenheim’s interpretation of a comfortable Jewish home, evoking the peace of the Sabbath.

Shabbat (Sabbath) tableau inspired by the Moritz Oppenheim painting Sabbath Afternoon, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, c. 1866, Oil on canvas, Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, Inc. SCC 41.135. Photo by Robert Wedemeyer.

Hanukkah lamp with Statue of Liberty-shaped candle holders

Manfred Anson, Statue of Liberty Hanukkah Lamp, 1985

Museum purchase with Project Americana funds provided by Peachy and Mark Levy. HUCSM 27.154. Photo by Susan Einstein.

painting of zodiac depicted in a circle

Zodiac Circle by Mark Podwal

Contemporary artist Mark Podwal has created modern interpretations of rabbinic writings and Jewish lore in his colorful, energetic works, such as Zodiac Circle. A menorah occupies the central position of the sun, around which the planets revolve. The signs of the zodiac are aligned with the twelve Hebrew months arranged in concentric circles. The sequence of Jewish holidays is arranged counterclockwise from the New Year, and each holiday is represented with imagery ranging from the profound to the whimsical.

Mark Podwal, Zodiac Circle, 1995. Gouache, ink, and colored pencil on paper, 48 x 48 in. (121.9 x 121.9 cm.) Museum commission with funds provided in honor of Marian and Don DeWitt by their children and their families. Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles. 10.12a.

Wooden scroll cover

Torah Case, Kaifeng, China, 17th or 18th century

Wood, lacquered, and gilt, bronze, and iron

Skirball Museum. SCC 57.2

Silver Hanukkah lamp with a unicorn and a lion at the base

Johann Heinrich Philip Schott, Rothschild Hanukkah Lamp, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, ca. 1850

Silver, cast and chased

Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, Inc. SCC 27.98

Shofar and wooden case

Marcus Jonas, Shofar and Case, Oakland, California, ca. 1870

Wood, ram's horn

Gift of the Family of Marcus Jonas of Oakland, California. SCC 52.36

Silver menorah depicting a bear climbing a tree trying to reach the candle holders

Oak Tree Menorah, Lvov, Galicia, late 18th–early 19th century

Silver, repoussé, cast and parcel-gilt

Skirball Museum. SCC 27.100

Metal spice box shaped like a castle tower with a flag on top

Spice Box, Rohrwasser, Austro-Hungarian Empire, 1867–1872

Silver, filigree

Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, Inc. SCC 53.77

Leaded glass box

Zion Box, Chicago, Illinois, c. 1920

Leaded glass

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Hirsch. SCC 14.108

Kitchen interior with old stove, table with cutting board and manual grinder; cupboard

Kitchen Tableau

Between 1880 and 1924, more than two million Jews immigrated from Eastern Europe to the United States in search of a better life. On view in Visions and Values, this tableau depicts a typical, new Jewish immigrant’s kitchen from that period. Look closely to find objects from the “Old Country” mixed in with newer “Americanized” methods of food preparation.

Early twentieth-century American Jewish immigrant kitchen tableau. Photo by Robert Wedemeyer.

Brass Hanukkah lamp with 2 lions, tablet, and Jewish star

Moroccan Hanukkah Lamp

The light from this oil-burning Hanukkah lamp in the Skirball's permanent collection once illuminated a Moroccan Jewish home during the eight nights of Hanukkah. Until the late 1940s, Morocco was home to over a quarter of a million Jews. Today, most Moroccan Jews and their descendants live in Israel, France, and Canada, as well as in the United States, where they keep their vibrant holiday traditions alive.

Hanukkah Lamp, Morocco, twentieth century. 13 3/4 x 9 3/8 x 3 1/2 in. Maurice Amado Foundation. Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles. 27.194.

Metal seder plate with 4 levels

Tiered Seder Plate

This intricate and playful Seder plate on display in Visions and Values features figurines that carry cups for the six symbolic foods that tell the story of Passover. At the center, you can see the main character, Moses, holding up the cup of Elijah. In an act of welcome, Jews traditionally leave a cup of wine for the prophet Elijah and open the door for him to join symbolically at the conclusion of the meal.

Franz Strobl (assumed), Tiered Seder Plate, Vienna, Austria, 1814. SCC 50.12. Photo by John Reed Forsman.