Philanthropy saves Magnes for future generations

When the news broke last fall that Berkeley’s Judah L. Magnes Museum had entered negotiations to transfer its collections to U.C. Berkeley and sell its Russell Street headquarters, we were  concerned.

We wondered how the community had permitted the downfall of this preeminent storehouse of Jewish artworks, artifacts and historical documents and whether the transfer was a workable solution.

Then this week came the good news that $2.5 million from philanthropists Warren Hellman, Tad Taube and the Koret Foundation had been granted to cover relocation costs and the reconstitution of the collection.

Say hello to the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life at the Bancroft Library.

As our story on page 2 explains, this latest and happiest twist in the Magnes saga is a “win-win situation,” to quote Magnes director Alla Efimova.

Under the new arrangement, the Bancroft Library expands its scope. The Magnes remains a core arts institution in the Bay Area Jewish community. Perhaps most important, the Magnes materials, including the peerless Western Jewish History Center collection, remain an accessible and eternal treasure for scholars, researchers and art lovers.

True, not everything will be on display, and parts of the collection will be housed in different locales on or near the U.C. Berkeley campus. But even that may change, as the Magnes’ 25,000-square-foot space on Allston Way gets renovated over the next year or so. Groundbreaking takes place in October, and perhaps that building will become a destination museum like the Russell Street building of old.

Sustaining the mission of the Magnes Museum is by itself a major achievement. But in a larger sense, when philanthropists such as Hellman, Taube and Koret step up to the plate and do the right thing for the community, as they did in this case, we know that the long-term vibrancy of the Bay Area Jewish community is assured.

When the late Seymour Fromer launched the Judah L. Magnes Museum in 1961, he surely envisioned an institution that would always grow, never falter and certainly not disappear.

Fromer, who died last October at the age of 87, did not live to see his beloved institution transition into its new incarnation. The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life at the Bancroft Library is a most worthy heir to Fromer’s initial vision.

We salute Warren Hellman, Tad Taube, the Koret Foundation, the Magnes board and the Bancroft Library and others for their foresight and generosity, and thank them for helping save one of our most significant institutions.