Traditions that are ‘part of our shared heritage’ on display at Johnson County Museum
The All-Electric House at the Johnson County Museum has become a family favorite with visitors. During the winter season, this 1953 home is usually decked out in traditional Christmas decor, but this holiday season it has a different look.
Through early January, the rooms in the home display various items and ritual objects reflecting three Jewish holidays: the eight-day winter celebration of Hanukkah (which starts at sundown on Dec. 7), Shabbat (the weekly Jewish Sabbath) and Sukkot, an eight-day fall harvest festival.
The exhibit, “Jewish Holidays in the All-Electric House,” opened in September and continues until Jan. 6. It is a collaborative exhibit between the Museum and The Michael Klein Collection housed at The Temple — Congregation B’nai Jehudah in Overland Park.
The Judaic items in the All-Electric House are just a smattering of the items in The Klein Collection. These comprise ritual objects, fine art, folk art and objects from the everyday lives of Jews from around the world. The collection spans centuries and continents, and celebrates Jewish history, cultures and traditions.
As visitors stroll through the home they will see more than 30 objects on loan from the Klein Collection, including various menorahs, dreidels (spinning tops), children’s holiday puzzles, candle sticks, spice boxes and decor for the sukkah, which is on the front lawn of the home. The exhibit includes descriptions of the items, as well as an interpretive panel outside of the house sharing information on the Klein collection.
“It was a fun way to incorporate the entire house with Shabbat items in the dining room, children’s puzzles in the bedrooms and represent a Jewish family living in the house,” said Andrew Gustafson, curator of interpretation with the Johnson County Museum.
“The house already evokes a sense of nostalgia for many visitors, and now that nostalgia is incorporating other religions and other cultures we haven’t featured before, so that’s very exciting.”
In conjunction with the Jewish Holidays exhibit, the Johnson County Museum is also selling an assortment of Hanukkah items in the gift shop.
The Jewish holidays exhibit has been in the works for about a year. Gustafson and the museum team worked closely with Abby Magariel, educator and curator for the Michael Klein Collection to pull the display together.
“We decorated the sukkah with very traditional items: fruit hanging from the roof and paper chains around the walls,” Magariel said. “One of the front desk staffers at the museum made the paper chains, and even though she’s not Jewish, she enjoyed creating this colorful addition to the exhibit.
“We are proud to exhibit these objects in a public museum because Jewish families are part of the Johnson County community, and have been since it (the county) was established more than 160 years ago. The traditions of local Jewish families are part of our shared heritage.”
This is the second collaboration between the Johnson County Museum and The Klein Collection. The first took place in 2021 with “Passover Traditions, a display of a traditional Seder table.”
“I love this relationship,” Gustafson said. “This partnership aims to provide a perspective on the significance of Jewish holiday celebrations held within the home in mid-century Johnson County.”
Having a display on Jewish holidays in the home is part of the museum’s strategic plan “to tell a fuller and more inclusive story of Johnson County and the people who lived here in the past and present,” Gustafson said. “It’s a way to make connections with people who are not Jewish to see the warmth and joy of Jewish holidays in the home.”
Gustafson encourages the public to come visit the Jewish Holidays display.
“I hope people walk away learning something new,” Gustafson said. “I hope visitors think about their family celebrations and what is meaningful to them when they get together with their own families during the holiday season.”
