At the Jewish Museum of Florida, Pot in Jewish Life, Both Ancient and Modern

A view of the wall text and images from the exhibition “Kosher Kush” at the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU, which is on view through Sunday, April 20, 2025. (Photo courtesy of the
Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU)

You wouldn’t think it, but the venerable ancestors weren’t averse to sampling the delights of marijuana. Indeed, as “Kosher Kush,” a new exhibit at the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU concludes, some seeds and herbs mentioned in the Bible, Talmud (and other religious texts) were likely cannabis.

From then to now, the exhibit looks at how cannabis was and is used by Jewish communities, including by Hebrew priests and, spanning the centuries, culminating in the roles some scientists and activists – who just happened to be Jewish – have played in the larger story of how cannabis went from sacred ritual to secular intoxicant.

“We really pushed for this exhibition as a conversation starter,” says Jacqueline Goldstein, curator, who says the show had been in the works for about a year. “Kosher Kush” is based on and interpreted for South Florida audiences from the 2022-2023 exhibit, “Am Yisrael High: The Story of Jews and Cannabis,” put on at YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York City. Susan Gladstone Pasternack, the executive director of the Jewish Museum, saw the show there, and according to Goldstein “thought it would be great for us. We try to create an exhibit that creates discourse.”

Another view of the “Kosher Kush” show with a Torah in the foreground (Photo courtesy of the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU)

And this one is likely to do so. What might be surprising to visitors is a view of biblical Hebrews that is a bit more intriguing than your general Torah story

Of special interest is the idea that the Kaneh bosem or the “fragrant stalk” used to make anointing oils referenced in the Book of Exodus is cannabis, according to the show’s on-the-wall entry. It is also referenced as a rope-building fiber plant (think hemp, pot’s cousin, still used today). It was also likely, the text continues, part of the incense mixture that was an integral part of Jewish religious ceremonies.

And it seems the plant was already known and used in the ancient world. According to the text, officiants at the temples of Assyria used the herb as incense as well as an intoxicant, “because its aroma was pleasing to the Gods.”

The exact composition of the incense used in the Jewish Temple of biblical narrative remains murky, but there are interesting clues, according to the exhibit. Maimonides, the famous Spanish Jewish rabbi and philosopher of the early Middle Ages, says that Kaneh bosem, imported from India, was used for medical purposes. Bolstering the argument for pot’s ritual role is that charred cannabis residue was discovered on a third century BC Jewish altar, suggesting that the herb was a regular part of religious ceremonies.

Wall text shows comments made by Richard Nixon in 1971 regarding Jews and the legalization of marijuana in “Kosher Kush” at the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. (Photo courtesy of the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU)

Interestingly, as we move through the centuries of pot’s presence in Jewish lives, what stands out in relief is the recurrent theme of borrowing and incorporating norms of the societies they lived among – a motif that appears in Jewish art, literature and culture through the ages, as the stateless people settled in lands from Spain to the Netherlands.

Highlights of this part of the exhibition include scraps of writing referencing cannabis found in the Cairo Geniza, a discovery of fragments that lay remote and forgotten in the storeroom of the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Egypt’s Old Cairo. Finally rescued in the late 1800s, the works span from the ninth to the 19th centuries. The fragments touch on many topics, from the sacred to the mundane, including a number of reefer references, including a humorous song that praises the advantages of wine over cannabis.

The greater part of research for the show was done by Edward Portnoy, academic advisor for exhibitions at YIVO. His interest was piqued after he saw a photo of a glass bong in the shape of a menorah. He thought it would be a great addition to the institute and contacted its maker, the Grav company who agreed to donate one. The question was asked if Portnoy could create an exhibit showcasing Jews and marijuana. “I sat down and thought, ‘I could do that,’ ” he says.

It turns out that academic articles written about archeological digs of ancient synagogues was a rich source of information. “Every aspect of a synagogue dig is delved into by scholars,” says Portnoy. Meanwhile, a friend and colleague, Marina Rustow professor of Near Eastern studies and history at Princeton University, just happens to be deeply involved in the Princeton Geniza Project that, since 1986 has been translating and digitizing the 400,000 or so fragments rescued from the Ben Ezra Synagogue. That trove was key to Portnoy’s research.

“You can do a keyword search,” he says, noting that the song extolling the virtues of wine over cannabis was from around 1300 AD. “For me what was so fascinating is that there is an incredibly lengthy history of Jewishness and cannabis as an intoxicant in places like the Middle East. It became part of their lives and ritual.”

Also in the exhibit show are a frequently humorous group of contemporary cannabis-related Jewish-themed items, such as the aforementioned glass menorah-bong, and a seder plate with a marijuana leaf substituted for the customary bitter herb (often romaine or endive), to name a few.

Steve Marcus’ work, “420- עשן” references the mystical nature of numbers in Judaism, in particular the belief that Solomon’s Temple stood for 420 years and simultaneously, the number became a code for smoking marijuana. (Photo
courtesy of the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU)

In another are the contributions of scientists involved in 20th and 21st-century research about the plant’s biochemical properties and possible medicinal uses, including in psychiatry and alleviating nausea from chemotherapy used to treat cancer, are detailed.

Finally, there is a section on the 1960s counterculture with lots of references to activism by Jewish figures, and popular art of the period, including “420- עשן” by artist Steve Marcus. The name of “420- עשן” references the mystical nature of numbers in Judaism, in particular the belief that Solomon’s Temple stood for 420 years and simultaneously, the number became a code for smoking marijuana.

Coincidentally Marcus has his own exhibit “Built to Last: The Art of Steve Marcus” now ongoing in the same museum through Sunday, April 27, 2025.

The show also includes several Florida specific exhibits, including on South Tip, a Homestead-based company that specializes in hemp and CBD products.

The museum intends to put on panel discussions geared toward FIU students studying law and medicine. The show, says Goldstein, “is a terrific conversation starter,” encouraging visitors to discuss what they may not otherwise talk about.”

WHAT: “Kosher Kush”

WHERE: Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU, 301 Washington Ave., Miami Beach

WHEN: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays; closed Mondays, Tuesdays and holidays. Through April 20, 2025. The Jewish Museum is hosting an Art Basel Open House from 10 a.m. to noon on Sunday, Dec. 8.

COST: $12, adults, $10, seniors/students; free admission for JMOF-FIU members, FIU faculty, staff, and students; also children 6 and under admitted free. Free admission on Saturdays.

INFORMATION: (305) 672-5044 or jmof.fiu.edu 

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