Feel the need to grow... like a tree

A recent facbook discussion has lead me to try and go back to the roots of this blog where I combined the Parsha and art... but I want to delve in to the Haftorah portions, because I am not as familiar with that and want to learn.

Did you know that in this week's haftorah Solomon directs the building of the Temple? And did you know that the very famous words which we speak as we stand before the open ark come from this reading?

It is a tree of life for those who grasp it, and it's supporters are praiseworthy. Its ways are ways of pleasantness and all its paths are peace". Proverbs Chapter 3 (17-18)

These ark doors come from Congregation Etz Chaim in Fairport New York and were Al Ornstein.

Shabbat Shalom.

Kathi- Mistress of all Media

My dear friend Kathi, did it again, this time completing two windows to hang in the home of one of her patrons. This mem and shin are joining a window with a large alef. You should go straight to her blog and read about them.

A good way to spend the Depression

This and eleven other windows at Temple Beth Sholom were designed by artist A. Raymond Katz (1895-1974) of New York. Katz worked in various media, including murals, stained glass, mosaics, bas-reliefs, printmaking, paintings and drawings. Born in Kassa, Hungary, he came to the United States in 1909 and spent his early years in Chicago, where he studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. Among his murals are those for the 1933 Century of Progress exposition in Chicago, a post office in Madison, Illinois, the Young Women's Hebrew Association of Elizabeth, New Jersey, and many synagogues in the United States. His bas-reliefs and stained glass designs also can be found in numerous synagogues. Katz was well known for his designs based on characters of the Hebrew alphabet and for his interpretations of Jewish themes. After seeing his Ten Commandment paintings, Temple members Willard and Lois Cohodas visited Katz in New York and he offered to design, without charge, ten windows to symbolize the Ten Commandments for the Temple. Those windows were installed in 1962. This Sabbath Window was designed a few years later, not long before his death in 1974. All of the windows designed by Katz for Temple Beth Sholom were fabricated by Rohlf's Stained and Leaded Glass Studio of New York.

Stained Glass

Orit Landau... I had to search a bit to find out about her...

Born in Jerusalem, Oritt Landau lives and creates in Haifa.

An eighth generation Israeli and a descendant of Yoel Moshe Salomon, one of the foundation-builders of the settlement of Israel. She is married with two children and has a degree in Economics.

About twelve years ago she discovered the magic of the world of glass and completed courses in stained-glass and in hot-glass, courses in drawing and painting with the artist Dr. Zvika Israel, and advanced studies in sand-casting with the international glass artist Boris Shpeizman.

Oritt works with stained-glass and hot-glass and also combines special pieces of glass in the stained-glass compositions, that she creates in the Kiln in her workshop: slumping, fusing and also cast glass (using the pate-de-verre process).

In pate-de-verre, fragments of glass in various colors are mixed and re-formed in a mold and glass casting is created. This method was known in ancient Egypt as early as the 15th century B.C.

Oritt achieves unique, multicolored textures in her glass compositions, while contending with the actual glass without drawing on it.

A member of the Israel Designer Craftsmen's Association and the Israel Miniature Art Society. Her works are on display in private and public locations.

Listen up...

Our sages teach us that the original recitation of the phrase "Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokaynu Hashem Echad" dates back to our Father Jacob. We are taught that at the close of Yaakov's life he called all of his children to his bed side to say farewell and reveal the destiny of the Jewish people. When he was unsuccessful sharing his visions and divine insights regarding the future of the Jewish people he grew despondent and concerned that perhaps his children (the original children of Israel) were not true to the G-d of Israel. At that anxiety filled moment Jacob's children recited in unison "Shema Yisrael... Echad". This provided comfort and fulfillment to him at the closing moments of life on this earth.

Does your congregation recite the words of the Shema loudly and then follow in a whisper or silently with the words Baruch Shem K'vod Malchuto L'olam vaed? Do you know why this custom arose? Aparently while on his deathbed, Jacob was bestowing his last bits of knowlege upon his sons. Upon hearing his words, his sons cry out "Shema Yisrael (Jacob’s other name)—O listen Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One," and Jacob, so weak he can barely speak, says "Baruch shem kavod…" Because Jacob said it in a whisper, so do we.

Michelle and David Plachte-Zuieback designed this installation for Temple Valley Beth Shalom of Encino, California. This couple's interest & exploration of religious themes has been encouraged by their work as stained glass specialists for UAHC Camp Swig Institute for Living Judaism, where they have offered an intensive stained glass workshops for junior high & high school students annualy, since 1983.