Cincinnati Skirball Museum

Cincinnati Skirball Museum The Cincinnati Skirball Museum on the HUC-JIR Cincinnati Campus is one of the oldest collections of Jewish artifacts in America. Admission is free.

The Skirball Museum in Cincinnati has a long history as one of the oldest repositories of Jewish cultural artifacts in America. The first stage in the museum's development lasted for nearly a century, beginning when Hebrew Union College (HUC) opened in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1875 and over time began accepting donations of Judaic objects and books. In 1913, the College's Union Museum was founded with

the assistance of the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods, becoming the first formally established Jewish museum in the United States. In the 1920s, the collections rapidly expanded with the purchase of several significant private collections of Judaica, including those of Salli Kirchstein, Joseph Hamburger, and Louis Grossman. In 1950, HUC merged with the Jewish Institute of Religion (JIR). In 1990, The Skirball Museum Cincinnati opened in the newly renovated Mayerson Hall, presenting its core exhibit An Eternal People: The Jewish Experience, comprised of seven thematic galleries that portray the cultural, historical, and religious heritage of the Jewish people.

03/29/2026
This evening's lecture, Symbol, Beauty, and Function in The Collars Of RBG, with Abby Schwartz, has been CANCELLED due t...
12/02/2025

This evening's lecture, Symbol, Beauty, and Function in The Collars Of RBG, with Abby Schwartz, has been CANCELLED due to current and potential weather conditions. Apologies for any inconvenience.

The RBG Exhibit will run through February 9, 2026 and we invite you to visit during our normal open hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 11:00 am - 3:00 pm, Sundays 1:00 - 4:00 pm.

06/17/2025
05/21/2025

In this month’s Object of the Month, soon-to-be Rabbi Rachael Houser, takes us on a tour of artist Archie Rand’s, The Seventeen Iron Flock, a mural series now on view at Hebrew Union College’s Skirball Museum in Cincinnati. Each portrait in this exhibition reimagines Jewish heroines through bold color, layered symbolism, and pop-art inspiration—inviting viewers to uncover the hidden stories and midrashic details woven into every canvas.

Get an in-depth look as Rachael shows us the depiction of Asenath, wife of Joseph, caught mid-flight on horseback, fleeing the pyramids of her past to embrace a new future grounded in shared faith and love.

Don’t miss your chance to explore this tribute to women of strength and spirit, on display through June 30 at Cincinnati Skirball Museum.

Miriam CupAnn Sperry (NY 1950-2008 NY)USA, 1997Welded and painted steel, h. 11 x w. 6 x d 7 in.Cincinnati Skirball Museu...
04/08/2025

Miriam Cup
Ann Sperry (NY 1950-2008 NY)
USA, 1997
Welded and painted steel, h. 11 x w. 6 x d 7 in.
Cincinnati Skirball Museum, museum purchase with funds provided by Skirball Museum docents, 18.75

The holiday of Passover tells the tale of the Israelites’ journey from enslavement and bo***ge in the land of Egypt to liberation across the Sea of Reeds and into the wilderness. The story behind the holiday is told over the course of a Passover Seder, which means ‘order.’ The ordered meal uses symbolic foods and dishes to represent aspects of the Exodus narrative.

One semi-recent addition to the Passover Seder table is a cup for the prophetess Miriam. While the prophet Elijah has long had a cup set aside for him, in the hopes that he will attend the Seder with news that the peaceful messianic age as begun, Miriam only started to get her own cup at the table in the 1980s. Her cup is filled with water to represent the midrash that Miriam’s presence among the Israelites ensured that they had water wherever they traveled, and that her death precipitated the lack of water the Israelites faced in Kadesh.

This Miriam’s cup, designed and created by Ann Sperry, evokes the springtime. The bowl of the cup could almost be a lily pad, collecting water from the rain, and the stem is vine- or root-like, culminating in a bud that hovers near the lip of the bowl. Sperry’s sculptures can be seen in Seattle, Aspen, and Boston.

This post was written by Rachael Houser, a fifth-year rabbinical student at HUC-JIR Cincinnati.

Our exhibit opening reception of "The Seventeen: Iron Flock" was lovely.  We were captivated listening to the artist him...
03/31/2025

Our exhibit opening reception of "The Seventeen: Iron Flock" was lovely. We were captivated listening to the artist himself, Archie Rand! Enjoy a few of the photos from the evening.

The exhibit will be on view at the Skirball Museum through June 30th. Sundays 1:00 - 4:00p, Tuesday & Thursday s 11:00a - 3:00p.

More information: [email protected] or 513-487-3231.

Only 4 more opportunities to see this wonderful exhibit of Israel through the lens of  photographer, Ralph Gibson.  "Sac...
02/13/2025

Only 4 more opportunities to see this wonderful exhibit of Israel through the lens of photographer, Ralph Gibson. "Sacred Land" will be open through February 23rd. questions or inquiries 513-487-3231 or [email protected].

Address

3101 Clifton Avenue
Cincinnati, OH
45220

Opening Hours

Tuesday 11am - 3pm
Thursday 11am - 3pm
Sunday 1pm - 4pm

Telephone

+15134873231

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Cincinnati Skirball Museum posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Museum

Send a message to Cincinnati Skirball Museum:

Share

Category