The Jewish Journey

The 4000-year story of the Jewish people told through 22 spectacular objects from the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

A jasper seal belonging to a Bronze Age Judean woman. A coin made from gold looted from the Holy Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE. The funeral plaque of a kosher sausage-maker from 4th century Rome. A medieval magic amulet made by Jews for Christian pilgrims. An English bank note forged by Jewish prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp.

These are a few of the extraordinary objects whose stories are told in The Jewish Journey: 4000 years in 22 objects.

All are connected in one way or another to the singular history of the Jewish people, and their gradual evolution over the millennia into a distinct group of people with their own language, customs, territories and religion, and their subsequent journeying, sometimes enforced, sometimes voluntary, out to all four corners of the globe.

Gathered here for the first time, these objects tell a story of diversity and continuity, tradition and change, integration and interaction, persecution and resilience. Their stories are both particular and universal, speaking to the experience of immigrants and refugees across the ages and in the world today.

“Rebecca Abrams, the model of a learned story-teller, provides a route through time and its objects to moments of illumination.”

SIMON SCHAMA

NOT AS ROMAN AS IT LOOKS: Rebecca reveals the astonishing story behind a Roman gold coin made in 1st century Judaea and found in 19th century England.

What the Historians Say

“The Jewish Journey takes twenty-two of the great riches of the Ashmolean Museum, from ancient Mesopotamia to catastrophic Sachsenhausen, and with the wonderfully imaginative guidance of Rebecca Abrams, the model of a learned story-teller, provides a route through time and its objects to moments of illumination”.

SIMON SCHAMA, from the Foreword to The Jewish Journey

“The Jewish Journey is a celebration of Jewish life in all of its worldly immensity, and reads like a tribute to the cosmopolitan ideals of Stefan Zweig, who wrote that “the purpose of Jewry is to show through the centuries that communion is possible even without soil, merely as the consequence of blood and spirit, merely by means of the Word and the faith”.

GAVIN JACOBSON, The Financial Times

“An exquisite book – not only historically and spiritually but also because of the meticulous way in which the story has been presented and designed, the thoughts to typeface, columns, time line, unobtrusive tiny notes, photographs. And all the stories and historical contextualising”.

JAN SPURLOCK

What the Readers Say

“This is a real gem of a book, beautifully produced with fabulous images of the items and in depth stories of and about both the items themselves as much as the lives and the people who would have used and come across them. This is not a guide book in the classical sense but is more of a description of glimpses of this two millennium plus story of the Jews as seen through this handful of objects. It is as much a travelogue as a guide. A wonderful gift, thank you”.

MIKE

“The author is a gifted and erudite story teller. Each of the 22 objects, which are mostly secular than religious, are examined in the context of their archaeological significance and in terms of their relation to the story of the Jewish people of that particular period. Highly recommended for those interested in history and archaeology. A pleasure to read something so well written”.

AMAZON REVIEW

“This is a truly unique and one of a kind Jewish history book. What makes it so special is that it delves into the ordinary and personal: the epitaph of a butcher in Rome, or a private communication between Egyptian Jews on Elephantine Island. An art history book at its best. A great gift for those interested in Jewish history, Middle Eastern history, religion and art”.

CARL

“I had admired the photos and contents of the Jewish Journey and had imagined dipping into the book for interesting nuggets, but I was astonished to find that the journey was one I couldn't stop following. This is written so lucidly with so much that was new to me that I followed the narrative throughout with real pleasure. What a gift!”

KATHY