Ripples of Venice invites you on a journey through memory, resilience, and creativity — where past and present meet across centuries of Jewish life.

The contemporary works featured in this exhibition were created through five special artist residencies organized by Beit Venezia – A Home for Jewish Culture, founded and directed by Shaul Bassi. Each residency offers a fresh artistic response to the legacy of Jewish Venice. These new works are presented in dialogue with historic Judaica objects made by the Venetian Jewish community from the Renaissance to the early 20th century.

Beit Venezia brings Jewish artists from around the world to live, learn, and create in Venice. Immersed in the city's rich Jewish legacy, these artists craft new works inspired by their experiences — weaving their own visions into the living tapestry of Jewish Venice. This legacy is rooted in the Venetian Ghetto, established in 1516 as the first officially designated Jewish ghetto in the world. Surrounded by walls and gates, it confined the Jewish community to a small, enclosed area of the city. Despite confinement, the Jews of Venice built a vibrant and resilient society, blending Italian and Jewish traditions and giving birth to a thriving center of Hebrew printing, scholarship, and art the influence of which spread across Europe and beyond—like ripples – carried by printing folios and Venetian merchant’s ships.

The historic objects on view, drawn from the permanent collection of the U. Nahon Museum of Italian Jewish Art, are paired with these contemporary reflections. Together, they trace the enduring flow of Jewish life that persists and flourish despite hardship, commanding us to carry on.

From the narrow alleys of Venice to the heart of Jerusalem, the spirit of resilience moves forward, undiminished. Ripples of Venice celebrates the creativity, learning, and hope that have sustained Jewish life across generations — a living testament to resilience, renewal, and the unbreakable bonds between Jewish collective memory and the future.