The Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme (French pronunciation: [myze daʁ e distwaʁ dy ʒydaism], Museum of Jewish Art and History, abbr.

The museum has a bookshop selling books on Jewish art and history and Judaica, a media library with an online catalogue accessible to the public, and an auditorium which offers conferences, lectures, concerts, performances, and seminars.

It also provides guided weekly visits in English during the tourist season (April–July) for individuals as well as students and teachers, and workshops for children, families, and adults.

The mayor of Paris at the time, Jacques Chirac, provided the Hôtel de Saint-Aignan in the Marais as a site for the future museum.

The museum provides areas for temporary exhibitions, educational activities, and research, making it a dynamic and innovative cultural venue.

A Holy Arch from Italy from the 15th century, wedding rings, and illuminated ketubbot (marriage contracts) are examples of artefacts in his collection.

At its creation, the museum outlined five missions that it seeks to fulfill: The mahJ chose a time period covering Jewish history from its beginnings in France until the birth of the State of Israel, without including the Holocaust.

The project for the Mémorial de la Shoah, which is now located 800 yards from the museum, already existed when the mahJ was created, with the goal of commemorating the Holocaust.

(Proverbs, 30:10) Each room of the permanent collection brings together three dimensions: a historical perspective of a certain time, a theme in some area of Judaism, and a specific place.

[12] The goal is to highlight the diversity and unity in rituals, beliefs, art, and material culture of Jewish communities in Europe and North Africa.

The visit begins with a presentation of symbolic objects and fundamental documents to show the permanence of Jewish identity and civilization in spite of- and through- the diaspora.

French Jewry had a rich cultural life in the Middle Ages, as witnessed by the work of Jewish thinkers such as Rashi, a rabbi from the 11th century.

It is devoted to synagogue furnishings, including a rare Holy Ark from Modena in Italy, silverware, and liturgical embroideries from the Italian Jewish world.

It includes a lovely series by Bernard Picart entitled Ceremonies and Religious Customs of all Peoples of the World and shows how Portuguese Jews integrated into the communities in Amsterdam, London, and Bordeaux after their expulsion in 1496/97.

One of the museum's central pieces is a completely restored 19th century Sukkah from Austria decorated with places that matter in Judaism, such as the Old City in Jerusalem.

Along with other ritual objects and texts, it depicts the Three Pilgrimage Festivals - Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot -, and highlights the central place that Jerusalem occupies in Jewish consciousness.

The geographical contrasts in religious customs among Sephardic Jews are highlighted through a variety of textiles, synagogue silverware, ordinary domestic objects, and popular art.

The collection contains a wide range of ethnographic objects illustrating the wealth of traditions and family ceremonies and the opulent costumes of Jews of the Maghreb, the Ottoman Empire, and the Middle East.

It focuses on important moments of the Jews’ integration into modern society, including the creation of the consistories (1808) under the auspices of Napoleon Bonaparte which organized French Judaism, as well as the establishment of state secularism in 1905.

Jews were finally permitted to study at L’Ecole des Beaux-Arts and many Jewish artists from the time were interested in staying faithful to the traditions of the Beaux Arts.

The social ascent of many Jews in France is illustrated by a number of portraits of prominent political, economic, and cultural figures, such as Rachel, Adolphe Crémieux, and the Pereire brothers.

The Dreyfus affair was a major event of the end of the 19th century in France: a Jewish Captain of the French Army was accused of high treason and was only cleared years later.

This section shows the flourishing intellectual life of European Jews at the turn of the century, including the emergence of Zionism, the rebirth of the Hebrew language, the blooming of Yiddish culture, and the creation of political movements in Russia and Poland such as the Bund.

This area contains works on paper and books from the beginning of the 20th century that highlight the Jewish cultural renaissance in Germany and Russia at the time.

It features artists of the School of Paris, such as Amedeo Modigliani, Pascin, Chaïm Soutine, Michel Kikoine, Jacques Lipchitz, and Chana Orloff.

To complete this presentation, the contemporary artist Christian Boltanski created a poignant installation placed in a small courtyard inside the museum made up of the names of the inhabitants, both Jews and non-Jews, of the Hotel Saint-Aignan on the eve of WWII.

An 8-foot tall reproduction of a statue of Alfred Dreyfus holding his broken sword, made by the French artist Louis ‘TIM’ Mitelberg in 1986, stands in the center of the museum courtyard.The Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme is as a non-profit organization.

Its board of directors is made up of five representatives from the ministry of Culture, five from the City of Paris, six from Jewish institutions; and four people chosen by the Fondation Pro mahJ.

For example, in November 2016, a temporary installation by contemporary Israeli artist Sigalit Landau called Miqlat (Shelter) was displayed in the museum's courtyard.

In the past, the museum has exhibited modern and contemporary artists such as Sophie Calle, Gotlib, Christan Boltanski, Michel Nedjar, and Micha Ullman.