This past Sunday, over 30 people including Frisch students, alumni, parents and other members of the community joined Eitan Kastner ’03, history educator at Frisch, for a tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s latest exhibit, “Jerusalem: 100-1400, Every People Under Heaven.”
Mr. Kastner is a licensed New York City sightseeing guide, in addition to holding a Master’s in the Social Sciences with a focus on American religious history from the University of Chicago. As such, he was uniquely equipped to lead a fascinating tour with relevant and meaningful commentary along the way.
This landmark exhibition at the Met demonstrates the key role that Jerusalem played in shaping the art of the period from 1000 to 1400. In these centuries, Jerusalem was home to diverse cultures, religions and languages, and thus inspired a plethora of artistic interpretations in various forms.
Mr. Kastner led participants on tours of the Muslim and Christian art galleries before the Jerusalem exhibit to allow for greater context. In the Jerusalem exhibit, the tour highlight was clearly seeing medieval manuscripts written by Maimonides and Judah HaLevi.
“After two trips with Mr. Kastner and my art history class last year, I knew that I couldn’t miss this opportunity to learn more about my religious and historical connection to Jerusalem with such a knowledgeable tour guide,” said Jodi Fishbein ’17. “Mr. Kastner made each artifact from the exhibit, whether a bejeweled cross or illuminated manuscript of the Torah, come alive.”
For Howard and Miriam Moses, residents of Staten Island, NY, and the grandparents of Ozzie ’19 and Shoshi Jeselsohn ’17, the tour of the Jerusalem exhibit marked the third time they’ve participated in a Frisch-hosted museum tour with Mr. Kastner. “Eitan Kastner infuses life, meaning and historical perspective into inanimate objects and makes the Museum come alive,” said Howard.
“No longer having any children at Frisch, we feel so fortunate to be able to participate in a school-sponsored gathering such as the museum tour,” said Ronnie Schlussel, a former Frisch parent and former chairwoman of the board. “Watching Mr. Kastner banter with his students that were on the tour brought back wonderful memories of our children’s experience at Frisch.”
Ronnie continued, “This particular exhibit at the museum, while titled Jerusalem, does not actually have a tremendous amount of Jewish artifacts. This is a complaint I have heard from many people who have gone to see it. To be able to have Mr. Kastner’s ability and knowledge to guide us through the exhibit and direct us to the areas that were of more interest to us really made the entire visit have so much more meaning for us.”
“It is wonderful that Frisch offers these tours to the community, and I love watching the participants lose themselves in the museum’s collection,” remarked Mr. Kastner, who had just taken his AP Art History class to the museum the week before he led this community tour. “It is easy to feel removed from history when we just tell it over as a story. But when you come face to face with a handwritten manuscript from Maimonides or an 800 year old Jewish wedding ring, you gain a real connection to our past.”
