The Jewish Wardrobe

The language of clothing speaks through materials, colors, textures, and styles, evolving over time and from place to place. This renewed exhibit emphasized clothes which were uniquely Jewish and which served as a medium of identification; although reflecting local customs, they were usually determined by Jewish precepts such as laws regarding modesty and were also sometimes imposed by ruling authorities. The clothes shown represented only a small sample of the rich collection of festive clothing in the Department of Ethnography; these clothes, worn only for special occasions, weathered the years more successfully than day-to-day outfits, many of which were destroyed by daily wear and tear, migration, and wars over the past century.