The Cleveland Museum of Art has opened a new installation of Jewish ceremonial art drawn from one of the world’s great collections, placing ritual objects used in American synagogues and daily life since the nation’s founding inside two of the museum’s permanent collection galleries, the museum announced.
Furnishing American Synagogues: Jewish Ceremonial Art, presented in partnership with the Jewish Museum in New York, is on view from November 1, 2026, through October 24, 2027, in the Cleveland Foundation Gallery and the Betty and Max Ratner Gallery (galleries 208 and 224A), according to the museum’s announcement. The museum timed the loans in observance of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
The works span more than a century of Jewish life and artistry in the United States. They range from an early 1900s silver Torah crown — an adornment placed on a closed Torah scroll — to contemporary mixed-media works such as an alms, or donation, container, according to the announcement. The centerpiece the museum highlighted is a monumental Torah ark from a synagogue in Sioux City, Iowa, carved in 1899 by a Jewish immigrant.
A Torah ark is the cabinet that houses a synagogue’s Torah scrolls, and the Sioux City example, the announcement noted, offers a striking example of the history of Jewish life and artistic expression in the United States — an immigrant craftsman’s work, made for a congregation in the American heartland, now displayed in Cleveland’s encyclopedic museum.
This is the third installation of Jewish ceremonial art from the Jewish Museum at the Cleveland Museum of Art, according to the announcement. It builds on the long-standing relationship between CMA Director William Griswold and James Snyder, director of the Jewish Museum, New York — a relationship the museum said paved the way for a shared interest in expanding the representation of Jewish art and Jewish cultural history in the broader contexts in which it developed.
The installation also marks a milestone in a longer institutional effort. Following work from earlier in the decade, the CMA launched its Jewish Arts Initiative in 2024 to advance that commitment through exhibitions, acquisitions, research and public engagement, according to the announcement. In 2024, a striking Etrog Box by Ilya Schor — an American artist born in Galicia, now Ukraine, who lived from 1904 to 1961 — became the museum’s first intentional acquisition of Jewish ceremonial art.
Before that, the announcement noted, CMA curators newly identified artworks as Jewish ceremonial art or as works by Jewish artists, and key loans from international museums and from Congregation Mishkan Or, a local synagogue, were featured in exhibitions including Stories from Storage in 2021, Africa & Byzantium in 2024, Arts of the Maghreb: North African Textiles and Jewelry in 2024-25 and In Vino Veritas (In Wine, Truth) in 2025-26, as well as in a permanent collection gallery as a long-term loan.
The museum has also added staff behind the initiative: Rachel Richman joined the CMA as assistant curator for the Jewish Arts Initiative in September 2026, and Itamar Sitbon joined as curatorial fellow for the initiative in August 2026, according to the announcement.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What we know: the installation is open now, it runs for nearly a full year in galleries 208 and 224A, and it places the Jewish Museum’s loans alongside the museum’s own growing holdings. What we are still waiting on: the related public programming — the talks, tours and community events the museum typically builds around a year-long installation — which visitors can watch for on the museum’s calendar as the run continues.
The opening adds to a busy museum season in University Circle and beyond. Clevelanders can pair a visit with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s $135 million expansion, which opens to the public November 22, and Ohio art lovers are also getting a Sistine Chapel exhibition opening November 6 at Polaris Fashion Place.
The Cleveland Museum of Art, at 11150 East Boulevard in Cleveland, is open Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and is closed Mondays, according to the museum. What happens next is a full year of display: Furnishing American Synagogues remains on view through October 24, 2027, giving Northeast Ohio visitors — and the school and community groups the initiative is meant to reach — four seasons to see it.
Photo: Tim Evanson, CC BY-SA 2.0