Cleveland Museum of Art is preparing to open a new installation of Jewish ceremonial art, titled Furnishing American Synagogues: Jewish Ceremonial Art, running from Nov. 1, 2026 through Oct. 24, 2027 in galleries 208 and 224A, according to Cleveland Museum of Art.
The Jewish Museum's collection includes a Torah ark from Adath Yeshurun Synagogue in Sioux City, Iowa, carved by Abraham Shulkin.
Jewish Arts Initiative
The Cleveland Museum of Art has a Jewish Arts Initiative, and Kristen Windmuller-Luna is a co-director of a grant related to the initiative, as reported by Cleveland Museum of Art.
Rachel Richman has researched wills, inheritance and women's property in the Cairo Geniza.
Building on a 2024-25 Loan Partnership
In late May 2024, the museum partnered with The Jewish Museum in New York to display a group of Jewish ceremonial objects drawn from the New York institution's collection, with the objects on loan through Jan. 5, 2025, according to Cleveland Museum of Art. That exhibition placed the pieces in six permanent-collection galleries, among them silver Torah ornaments from Italy, France and Georgia, a rare German festival lamp, and spice containers made in Ukraine and the United States, the museum's exhibition page states. The Jewish Museum describes the show as representing the diversity of Jewish cultures throughout the world and time, with the objects placed in context alongside other works from the same period or region.
Cleveland.com reported that the museum installed seven examples of Judaica in galleries throughout the building in late May 2024, on loan from The Jewish Museum through Jan. 5, 2025, and described it as the first exhibition of Judaica in the museum's 108-year history. The Jewish Museum notes the two institutions are now partnering for a second time on Adorning Ritual: Jewish Ceremonial Art from the Jewish Museum, New York.
Part of a Wider National Push
Cleveland's expansion fits into a broader lending effort by The Jewish Museum, which places objects into existing museum galleries rather than dedicated Judaica rooms as a condition of its loans, according to the Forward. Staff from the Jewish Museum work alongside local curators to identify objects for those galleries and train docents on their significance, the outlet reports. Cleveland Museum of Art director Bill Griswold has attributed much of a recent rise in visitors to interest in the works on loan from the Jewish Museum, per the Forward's reporting.
Other museums have joined the same push. The Toledo Museum of Art had, in the Forward's words, exactly zero Judaica until November 2025, when it purchased a 12th-century Afghan kiddush cup for $4 million and joined the lending initiative, planning to display a 13th-century synagogue inscription from Cairo in a comparative world-religions gallery. The Detroit Institute of Arts has drawn hundreds of visitors to events centered on Jewish objects, including an ancient Torah shield and a 15th-century casket decorated with zodiac symbols, the same report states.
