Our traditions are rooted in memory. We trace ourselves back through parents and grandparents, teachers and communities, not simply because genealogy matters, but because every generation inherits something greater than possessions. We inherit values, responsibilities and stories; and our job at Jewish Museum London is to preserve this legacy – not only for our own community but also to educate others on the rich, diverse heritage of Jewish people residing in the UK.
While we look for our permanent new home, Jewish Museum London's new interim space – two rooms – on the top floor of JW3, does just that.
Room one displays highlights from the permanent collection in an exhibition called Tree of Life: Stories from Jewish Museum London’s Collection. This exhibition is both an institutional and a human portrait. It reflects the museum’s own history as a collecting institution – its 35,000 strong collection spanning Judaica, artifacts of everyday life and commemoration, documentary photography, and archival material.
The exhibition traces Jewish life in Britain: its visibility and its quieter moments, its distinctiveness and its deep imprint on the society it has shaped and been shaped by. The earliest object dates to the 1650s, just before Jews were readmitted to Britain, with the latest dating to 2023. The collection speaks to a tradition of documenting life, of bearing witness to presence, of insisting on visibility in the face of histories that have sometimes sought the opposite. The overall theme is the Tree of Life: trees offer a lens through which to explore Jewish identity, social history and culture.
Open until November 15, Room Two hosts a temporary collection which changes twice a year and currently features Legacy, The Story of the Jewish Family who Founded J. Lyons and Fed Britain.
J. Lyons & Co was everywhere in Britain for almost a century. Its tea, coffee, cakes and ice cream were in every kitchen. Its Corner Houses and teashops were on every high street. Its Nippy waitresses numbered among the most recognisable figures in early twentieth-century Britain, and later in the century its Wimpy bars introduced fast food to the country. J. Lyons catered the British Empire Exhibition, royal garden parties and baked a cake for Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip’s wedding. It built the Trocadero and the Strand Palace Hotel in London. For close to 100 years, a Jewish family fed, entertained and quietly shaped the way the British ate and understood themselves.
Legacy tells the story of the Salmon and Gluckstein dynasty — five generations of a family, from a Hebrew teacher fleeing persecution in Prussia, to the architects of the largest catering company in the world. It is a story of ingenuity and relentless reinvention, of survival against the odds and success on a huge scale. It is also a story full of contradictions and complexities.
For those who would like to plan ahead, the museum is proud to announce that its next temporary exhibition, Abram Games & The Festival of Britain, will open on Wednesday, December 2.
Curated by Dr Nina Pearlman, formerly head of UCL art collections, both temporary exhibitions tell these remarkable stories in full for the first time.
For more information, including location, opening times and exploring guided tours, go to jewishmuseum.org.uk
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