To celebrate Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year), Jews eat foods like honey cake and apple dipped in honey. Along with a special prayer, this is a way of asking God for a sweet and happy year ahead. Our contemporary Judaica collection was developed through a series of exhibitions titled Australian Contemporary Design in Jewish Ceremony I, II and III. For each of the three exhibitions, contemporary artists and crafts-makers were invited to design new objects that could be used to perform the Jewish ceremonies and rituals that had been preserved and developed by Australia’s Jewish community over the last 200 years. This collection now comprises over sixty unique and distinctive objects made using very different methods of production, including tapestry, silver-smithing, carpentry, ceramics and glass-work. These objects have been inspired by a broad spectrum of religious, spiritual, artistic and emotional responses to the ideology and practice of Jewish rituals, as well as deeply considered connections to Australia’s broader culture and landscape. judaica, ceramics, jewish new year