Vatican, Rome’s Jewish Museum, Team Up For First Joint Show

ROME (AP) — The museums of the Vatican and Rome’s ancient Jewish community are hosting their first joint exhibit, building on decades of improved Catholic-Jewish relations following centuries of mistrust. The focus of the exhibit opening in May will be the menorah, the seven-armed candelabrum described in the Jewish Torah and depicted in Jewish, Catholic and secular art over the centuries. Through figurative art, the exhibit “recounts the multi-millennia, incredible and suffered history of the menorah,” organizers said in a statement Monday announcing the initiative. Part of the show will explore the legend of a solid-gold menorah that was kept in the first Temple of Jerusalem.