Day 4 (6.14.2023): Borat: Uniting Jews from Cleveland to Israel by Shawna Polster and Talia Millet

When you think of a museum about the Jewish people, the comedy film Borat may not be the first thing that comes to mind. But at the Anu Museum, we explored the different ways the Jewish peoplehood is defined, from covenant, community, and cosmopolitan aspects. We also took the time to choose the values which we personally feel build the Jewish peoplehood. Vadim Blumin, our tour guide, is a perfect example of the Jewish diaspora’s impact; a Russian-Israeli Jew, he is moving to England to further his impact and teaching of Judaism. He exemplifies the way that although Jews have dispersed throughout the world, they all build to create the Jewish people, whether Russian, Israeli, British, or anything else.  Once Vadim finished our tour, he gave us the opportunity to explore the museum on our own and look at the parts we were interested in. There were fun ways to demonstrate Jewish culture around the world such as in the comedy area of the museum. This was shown using many popular movies or television shows, such as Borat, Seinfeld, Friends, and HaYehudim Ba’im. We then experienced the range of our common Jewish experiences and shared history with the part of the museum dedicated to the Holocaust. A sharp contrast from Borat. This was a sad but important way to understand the enormous range of the Jewish experiences we share. And a way to begin to understand that no matter where you are in the world, Israel, Cleveland, etc., we are all part of the Jewish peoplehood.
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