The room is almost empty.
Cold and blue, a large tiled basin sits at one end. Photographs of women hang on the walls. A soft recording of a woman speaking echoes throughout the room like drops of water landing on tile. Her words are unintelligible until a person stands in front of the basin. She is telling her story. The basin represents a mikvah, a Jewish ritual bath used for purification.
“The story of the mikvah is something that was a big part of our cultural background,” said Janet Geldzahler, 55, of Livingston, N.J.
Geldzahler is visiting The Jewish Museum of Maryland in Baltimore City with her daughter.
In addition to “The Mikvah Project,” the museum also features an exhibit called “Cabin Fever: Jewish Camping and Jewish Commitment,” about the history of Jewish summer camps.
While “The Mikvah Project” has a distinctly adult feel, the “Cabin Fever” exhibit is geared specifically toward children.
It features colorful walls and displays that look like the inside of a cabin. Laura Silberman, education and program coordinator at the museum, said seeing the diversity Baltimore City offers is important for children visiting the museum.
“These are kids who may not have met someone who?s Jewish before,” she said.
The building that houses these temporary exhibits is nestled between two historic synagogues.
“We like to say they?re the largest items in our collection,” museum Curator Karen Falk said.
The basement of the older synagogue houses the oldest surviving mikvah in the United States as well as a matzo oven and a small exhibit for children about Jewish immigration.
Amayah Brunson, 9, of Baltimore City, visited the museum with Fitness, Fun and Games camp. She said the immigration exhibit was her favorite, because it showed what kind of clothes immigrants would have worn.
“There were different kind of clothes and some would be cool today,” she said.
“Good museum exhibitions start conversations between the people who are visiting the exhibition,” Falk said. “The kinds of conversations you?re likely to have at the Jewish Museum will have to do with personal or group identity, intergroup relations.”
IF YOU GO
» WHAT: The Jewish Museum of Maryland
» WHEN: Noon to 4 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Tours of the synagogues are at 1 and 2:30 p.m.
» WHERE: 15 Lloyd St., Baltimore
» ADMISSION: Adults $8, students $4 and children younger than 12 $3.
» INFO: 410-732-6400 or jewishmuseummd.org
al.robinson@baltimoreexaminer.com
