Josefína Puah Klimentová

During the festival and continuing through the summer holiday season, the Jewish Community House presents various themes related to Judaism, Jewish history, communities, and the future. In 2024, the focus was on a reflection of the events of October 7, 2023, and the attack on a music festival. In 2023, we offered a reflection on the Holocaust through the artistic work of the younger generation. For 2025, we are preparing a very down-to-earth topic—yet one that is absolutely essential to human relationships: food and its significance for Jewish communities.

"It is said that Judaism is about food and the Exodus from Egypt. Anyone who celebrates Jewish holidays or has ever experienced one will agree. Many Ashkenazi recipes seem very complicated, and if you don’t learn them at home from your grandmother, you often won’t dare to try them," says Andrea Ernyeová, author of the Jewish cookbook Don’t Be Afraid of Gefilte Fish.

This idea is echoed in the work of Josefína Puah Klimentová, a graduate of the Painting Studio at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. In her series of collage paintings, she depicts family gatherings around the festive table, inspired by Jewish tradition and experience. These intimate scenes speak to universal values such as family ties, intergenerational transmission of experience, and motherhood—a theme the artist has long explored. Klimentová approaches these subjects directly and with personal engagement, challenging the notion that “women’s themes” occupy a marginal place in art.

The exhibition at the Jewish Community House will also feature a selection of instructional videos filmed by photographer Ewa Chodzická in collaboration with Andrea Ernyeová, offering viewers a chance to see how to prepare challah, cholent, latkes, and other iconic dishes.

During the festival, there will be two workshops where participants can try preparing and tasting selected dishes and join a discussion with the creators—not only about Jewish cuisine—under the motto of Pavlína Šulcová’s excellent book: Judaism Is About Life.

10 July-31 October 2025, meeting with the author 10 July 6:30 pm