March - Temple Isaiah

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ART AROUND ISAIAH There are wonderful jewels hidden around our temple. You’ll find meaningful paintings and prints in offices, classrooms and shared spaces. Here are only a few of the pieces that elevate and enhance our environment, and a little of their story. How many of these pieces have you seen? As you move through Isaiah and notice other art pieces, know that what makes our community a masterpiece is you! Lobby: Broken Vessels/ Sparks of Light – Sherry Karver From the artist: When I first heard the Kabbalistic story of “The Shattering of the Vessels” in l987, I knew that shattering and reconstructing the fired clay would become the essential underlying element in all of my work, whether the work was figurative or totally abstract. It is symbolic of repairing the world, and since no two pieces ever shatter in the exact same way, it also creates unique pieces each time, just as each of us is completely unique. The story begins with the concept that since God is infinite, God had to contract upon Him/Herself (Tzimtum) in order to Then, suddenly something happened, perhaps a cosmic accident, and not able to contain all of the light, the vessels shattered in a great explosion, sending sparks of light and broken shards throughout the Universe (Shevirat HaKayleem). Some of the light retraced its path back to its source, but the rest was scattered and became trapped in the strewn shards, which now littered creation. These shards containing divine light are the "stuff " of our material world. The divine sparks can also represent our buried passions that we need to uncover. Our job as humanity is to separate the sparks of light from the broken shards and to repair them (Tikkun Olam), thereby going back to the unity and wholeness of God's original design. In our role as Jews, according to the Kabbalah, we help in the repairing the world whenever we perform mitzvot. Courtyard: War Memorial – Jackie Kahn-Trauberman Veteran’s Day weekend 2010 we consecrated a memorial to soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Designed by Jackie Kahn-Trauberman, it is a very simple canopy fastened to the brick wall in our front courtyard. The canopy looks as if it is silver wind chimes that shimmer in the sun and ring in a breeze. Upon closer look, one sees that it is made up of over 5,000 silver dog tags, one for every American soldier that has died in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Hebrew inscription translates as “Spread a canopy of peace over them.” Every week at services we read the names of soldiers who have died and hang dog make a space in which the world could grow. God wanted to breathe a little creative light into this new world but was concerned that the intensity of the light would be too great for humanity to handle, so vessels were created to hold the light. tags on the memorial in their honor. We encourage families to talk about the memorial with children. As they grow and reflect on these times, they should know that we were not immune to these tremendous losses. One day we hope to plant vines and our memorial will become a beautiful shelter of peace. 4 | THE ISAIAN ART ISSUE MARCH 2013
Sanctuary: Tallit as Art – Laurie Gross Textile artist Laurie Gross has taken the tallit’s image and shape and created a growing body of work that merges craft, art, religious symbolism and her unique vision into woven sculptures which evoke Jewish theology and legend and express her views about the Jewish people and human spirituality. As the sculptures progressed, she recalls, “I realized it was a partnership. I knew it wasn’t me doing this, there was something else working with me. My work is a partnership with God.” Lobby: The Days of Creation Stained Glass – Michelle and David Plachte-Zuieback Michelle and David Plachte-Zuieback, stained glass artists, create images to contribute to a sacred space. They take an interpretive approach, trying to create images which are original interpretations of Liturgy, Torah and Talmud and other books. Their creations involve intensive research, reading and discussions. “We produce a visual midrash from our readings.” The Days of Creation project, originally created for a Malibu residence, is an example of the use of symbolic imagery drawn from biblical sources. According to the artists: “We looked in the Torah and read that the universe was created through the power of speech. Over the ages, when the Rabbis looked at this passage, they determined that if God used the power of speech to create the universe, what existed before were the words God used and the letters that made up those words.” are symbols of each day's creation. The letters tumble beyond the confines of time and space and become a symbol of God's continual act of creation. All Israel is Responsible, One for the Other: The Jewish People is One, just as God is One. Our Oneness, our connection with generations past, present and future gives us a unique sense of family. The colors in the tapestry are as varied as the many faces of Jews throughout the world. Yet wherever we meet them, they are our brothers and sisters. Twisting, curving, bending and contorting the cloth bands into myriad shapes, Gross evokes men and women praying, singing and even dying. She assembles the bands into winglike shapes to symbolize the Shekihina, God’s ephemeral presence. “I see the tallit as a visual image for the metaphor of the fabric of Jewish life. When I see someone wearing a tallit, I see a garment wrapped around the body as a covering, a tent, a shelter. It is a womb like environment. The tallit enveloping the body is an embodiment of the relationship between the individual and God. Entering the tallit is like entering into the womb of God. The tallit also became for me a symbol of the continuity, tying the life of the individual into a single thread and binding generations together.” The artist herself says creating the works is for her “a way of renewing each day a sense of the act of Creation.” The Plachte-Zuiebacks recreate the chaos before creation in a stained glass window by “a chaos of Hebrew letters.” In the center of the star are two words which mean “and God said.” In the corner of the window, etched onto glass, is the scientific explanation for the creation of the universe: Einstein’s equation E=mc2. Lobby: “Creation” and “All Israel is Responsible” – Peachy Levy The textile pieces in the lobby are part of “World Series: A View of the World Through a Jewish Lens” by Los Angeles artist Peachy Levy. Creation: There was darkness and void and God spoke. The world was created with words. Embroidered on the tapestry are letters, not yet formed into words, coming from the darkness to become the creation of each day. The colors A New Addition from our Students – On Display Soon As part of Emtza, our project-based seventh- and eighth-grade program, a group of students spent the first semester learning about murals and then creating one of their own. Each student contributed to an aspect of the process, brainstorming ideas and eventually sketching out our final project (the picture shown here shows the almost-finished mural). The final product has six sections, organized around the shape of a Star of David. The sections represent different aspects of the students’ – and the Temple Isaiah community’s – Jewish identities. If you look closely, you’ll see the mural includes images from the Bible, depictions of moments in Jewish history and Jewish life in Los Angeles and illustrations of modern Israel. The students also included a dedication to Cantor Kent, acknowledged with a picture of a guitar, illustrating the importance of music to our community. 5 | THE ISAIAN ART ISSUE MARCH 2013
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Page 11 and 12: B'NAI MITZVAHS ROBERT SHER Son of R

March - Temple Isaiah

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