For 2,000 years the Jewish people lived in galut, exile from their ancestral homeland, Eretz Yisrael. Though they scattered across the four corners of the earth, they were bound together by Jewish law, living and praying by the same rules. Having established diverse Diaspora communities throughout the world, however, unique customs inevitably arose, differentiating the traditions of Ashkenazi, Mizrahi, and Sephardic Jews. Such customs were not only relegated to daily life but to death and mourning as well: specifically, the ritual cleansing of the body and the burial shrouds the deceased are adorned in. At the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, “Dressed for Eternity: Jewish Shrouds Through the Ages” is the first major exhibition to examine the poetic traditions behind Jewish burial garments. —L.H.