In a trip to Poland in 2015, Arthur Kurzweil discovered a network of East European amateur archaeologists on the lookout for buried historical objects—and found out that there are countless dreidels under the soil. He then began a collection that now includes some 4,000 of the Hanukkah toys, as well as numerous other realia too quotidian to get the attention of most museums. Shira Hanau reports:
It’s not just dreidels that surround Kurzweil. Quietly and in collaboration with Eastern Europe’s sizable community of treasure hunters, he has amassed a sweeping collection of Jewish objects. . . . While Holocaust museums and concentration camps bring visitors face to face with the piles of shoes and eyeglasses worn by Jews who were about to be killed, Kurzweil lives with reminders of the lives they lived.
In addition to the tiny dreidels, made of pewter and lead and clearly intended for children, Kurzweil has also collected boxes of metal kosher seals, which would have been affixed to packages of food to attest to their kosher status; dozens of pins that would have been worn by members of Jewish youth and Zionist organizations; and coin-sized metal disks that synagogues would have handed out to people being called to the Torah.
And for Kurzweil, the relationships with people in Eastern Europe are [also] important. Kurzweil has traveled to [his father’s birthplace, the former shtetl of] Dobromyl, ten times and has gotten to know some of the people who live there over the years. In 2017, he even donated a playground to the town and raised over $22,000 to purchase supplies for the local school.
Read more at Jewish Telegraphic Agency
More about: Archaeology, East European Jewry