King Tut in Philadelphia – Good For the Jews

by Joanne Palmer

APRIL 2007 -- In the long run, you could make the argument that ancient Egypt was good for the Jews.

Yes, the Israelites were enslaved there for 400 years, and left only after great terror, violence, and death, but they left as a people. Our national identity, forged at Sinai and refined in the desert, began with that experience. Ever since then, Egypt has been a potent symbol for all of us Jews.

It’s even easier to make the case that ancient Egypt was good for the Conservative Jews of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and southern and central New Jersey. It might even be possible that it will turn out to have provided some of the glue for the cohesion of the entire Conservative community in the region.

On Sunday, March 18, a full year of planning culminated in “Exodus in Egypt.” In a sort of microcosmic reverse exodus, somewhere between 750 and 800 Jews from around United Synagogue’s Mid-Atlantic region converged on the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia to tour the visiting blockbuster exhibit there.

Exodus in Egypt grew out of the desire to bring together the many groups that make up the Conservative movement. Every local Conservative group was involved to some extent – that includes not only United Synagogue and USY but also the Cantors’ Assembly, the Jewish Educators’ Assembly, the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Harry B. Kellman Academy and the Raymond and Ruth Perelman Jewish Day School, the Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs, the North American Association of Synagogue Executive Directors, the Rabbinical Assembly, Camp Ramah in the Poconos, and Women’s League.

The idea was born at a meeting of the Conservative Leadership Council in the Mid-Atlantic region. Rabbi Steven Wernick, spiritual leader of Adath Israel in Merion Station, Pennsylvania, president of the Mid-Atlantic region’s Rabbinical Assembly, and co-chair (with United Synagogue’s regional president, Ruth Anolik) came up with the idea of doing something to break down the internal walls within the region’s Conservative Jewish community. Then United Synagogue’s regional executive director, Lewis Grafman, thought of the King Tut exhibit, serendipitously scheduled to be in Philadelphia right around Pesach, and the feverish planning, spearheaded by Ms. Anolik, Mr. Grafman, and Rabbi Wernick began.

At the heart of the day was a tour of the exhibit, Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, a display of some of the dazzling objects found inside or near the gloriously decorated nested coffins that held the embalmed body of the mysteriously dead 19-year-old pharaoh. It also included Pesach related crafts for children, educational performances by cantors, and a lecture by Dr. Sharon Keller, assistant professor of Bible at the Jewish Theological Seminary. And naturally there was food – the soft pretzels (kosher of course!) for which Philadelphia is famous.

No one had predicted the overwhelming response to the program announcement. Tickets sold out quickly; many more could have been sold, but the planners were limited by the size of the rooms they needed for the other activities. Some congregations, in fact, waited too long, and were shut out – a good problem as problems go but frustrating nonetheless.

The program lured people who live far outside metropolitan Philadelphia. Visitors trouped in from all over the Mid-Atlantic region – they came from congregations in Harrisburg, Easton, and Allentown, Pennsylvania, and in Ventnor and Lawrenceville, New Jersey.

“The goal was to build community,” Mr. Grafman said. “We wanted to have a family day, to show the value of Conservative Judaism, to showcase our approach, the importance of education at all levels, and simply to have a good time.

“Every one of those goals was met – and then some.”