Mark Darley
By publishing scholarly, personal, and creative engagements with art, architecture, history, and Jewish culture, 36 Windows aims to carry on the Jewish traditions of learning, posing questions, and considering multiple perspectives and interpretations. Offering an enhanced view of The Contemporary Jewish Museum’s exhibitions and programs, this digital space intends to be both a trusted resource and a source of surprise.
I am thrilled to introduce The Contemporary Jewish Museum’s new blog, 36 Windows, a dynamic, digital space for sparking new conversations about art, architecture, literature, pop culture, and Jewish culture and history. In keeping with The CJM’s mission to make the diversity of the Jewish experience relevant for a twenty-first century audience, 36 Windows aims to engage new audiences near and far as it illuminates, through a Jewish prism, the exhibitions and programs—ranging from our original Havruta In Contemporary Art exhibition series to our inventive and widely recognized Access, Public, and Family Programs—that make The CJM vibrant and unique. At its core, 36 Windows is a thoughtful experiment, open to discovery, and deeply interested in the ways in which art transports, challenges, ignites, and enlightens us.
Why 36? The CJM’s Stephen & Maribelle Leavitt Yud Gallery, designed by world-renowned architect Daniel Libeskind, features 36 diamond-shaped skylights in homage to the significance of this number in Jewish tradition. 36 equals double chai (chai means “life,” and double chai means “expand”). According to the Midrash, a compilation of rabbinic literature, the light created by God on the first day of creation shone for 36 hours; The Torah commands 36 times to love, respect, and protect the stranger; in mystical Jewish traditions, it is said that at any given time, there are 36 Tzadikim Nistarim, or “hidden righteous ones” in the world; and 36 candles are lit in the menorah over the eight days of Hanukkah.
Like the skylights that brighten the Yud and the blue panels on its exterior, which appear to change color depending on time of day, the weather, and the viewer's position, each entry in 36 Windows will be a versatile, living form, open to infinite interpretations. As the saying goes, “Put two Jews in a room and you get a hundred opinions!” The CJM relishes in this diversity and flexibility of thought, within the realms of both critical inquiry and casual conversation.
Influential Jewish poet Adrienne Rich speaks of leaning “from any window over the city / listening for the future.”[1]. This image resonates with us today, as we enter an exciting new chapter. In addition to the launch of this new website and blog, we have just opened the Helen Diller Institute, a work space where distinguished visiting scholars and project teams of CJM staff will collaborate to create dynamic Jewish content and programs for The Museum’s diverse audiences. The centerpiece of the Institute will be a Beit Midrash (Hebrew for “study hall”) that will hold thirty or more people for behind-the-scenes colloquia, symposia, and communal gatherings, and will house the expanding library of The CJM and its archives from its founding years to the present. The first Diller scholars will be Dr. Elana Stein Hain, widely well-regarded teacher and scholar and Director of Leadership Education at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, and Rani Jaegar, faculty member and research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute and one of the founders of Beit Tefilah Israeli, a secular synagogue in the heart of Tel Aviv.
Helen Diller Institute scholars will be among the many voices that will make 36 Windows a lively forum. Blog features will include both scholarly and personal reflections on CJM exhibitions and related content; multi-media explorations of contemporary art, Jewish history, and culture by curators, critics, and members of our expansive community; interviews with artists and curators; poetry; and views from CJM Staff and Teen Art Connect Interns. Be on the lookout for these vital entries as The CJM continues, rooted in our past and invested in our future, to consider all that is new in Jewish Culture, History, Art, and Ideas (C-H-A-I, also references chai, which means “life” in Hebrew). L'chaim!
[1] Adrienne Rich, “Poem III” from 21 Love Poems.
For more 36 Windows blog entries, click below.