I'm leaving, but where to?
Circumcision Book of Meyer Spiegel and Home Nativity Scene
1835–1865 (period of use)
Paper; cover decorated with gold embossing
Dorsten, Jüdisches Museum Westfalen, Inv.-Nr. JMW 90/050
Made by the sexton of the Überwasserkirche / carpenter Gausepohl / Mrs. Becker and her seamstress
1840–1850
Beeswax
Telgte, Relígio Museum für religiöse Kultur, Inv.-Nr. 09-0150
Jesus is born as a Jew. Like all Jewish boys, he is circumcised on the eighth day. Paul, too, was circumcised as a Jew. Brit Milah (circumcision) remains part of Jewish life to this day.
Part of this nativity scene is a Mohel, who performs the circumcision professionally. The circumcision book documents this rite in the 19th century.
Both objects make visible what has been a matter of course for Jews for many centuries. In this exhibition, they address an aspect over which the early Christ movement was fiercely divided.
