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AUGUST 2022 PROGRAMS
CSP
The Walnut Street Synagogue is pleased to be a partner congregation of the Orange County Jewish Community Scholar Program. Please join us at an upcoming program!
Jewish Sculptors & Sculpture
Part 1 – Hiddur Mitzvah: Sculpture of Jewish Ritual and Jewish Values – Tuesday, August 16, 3:30 pm EDT
Part 2 – Jewish Humanism or Jews Discover the Human Form – Tuesday, August 23, 3:30 pm EDT
Part 3 – Filling the Void: Sculpture by and for Jews After the Holocaust – Tuesday, August 30, 3:30 pm EDT
(online in partnership with the Orange County Jewish Community Scholar Program)
In this series of three lectures art historian Dr. Samuel Gruber explores the uneasy relationship between Jews, Judaism, and the art of sculpture. Mostly, he will introduce a wide variety of sculpted ritual metalwork from the 16th through the 21st centuries, and an even larger selection of representational and abstract sculpture made by dozens of Jewish artists from the late 19th century until today. Dr. Gruber will introduce us to works by little known but influential and inspired Jewish artists and to some of the major names in 20th century art (who just happen to be Jewish).
Part 1 – Hiddur Mitzvah: Sculpture of Jewish Ritual and Jewish Values – A strict and traditional interpretation of the Second Commandment would seem to indicate that Jews would avoid most forms of sculpture or at least representational sculpture altogether, yet we have biblical descriptions of the cherubim on the cover of the Ark of the Covenant, and bronze bulls supporting a giant basin in front of Solomon’s temple. Knowledge of these ancient examples provided Jews with ritual loopholes that allowed some forms of sculpture at different times and different places. By the 16th century we find small representational figures of animals and humans decorating ritual objects that adorn the Torah scrolls themselves, and slowly Jews seemed to accustom themselves to other types of figurative decoration, and even three-dimensional art. By the end of the 19th century a new generation Zionist sculptors adopt figurative sculpture for ideological – not religious – purpose.
Part 2 – Jewish Humanism or Jews Discover the Human Form – In the late 19th-century, a small number of Jewish artists began to study sculpture at academies of art. Mark Antokolsky (1840-1902) in Russia and Boris Schatz (1867-1932) in Bulgaria became leading figurative sculptures in their countries. In the United States Jewish sculptor Moses Jacob Ezekiel (1844-1917) created public monuments, portrait busts, and allegorical statues in the then prevalent academic style. These sculptors and others made art similar to that of their Christian contemporaries, but they also went out of their way to include some Jewish religious or cultural themes. Jesus was made to look Jewish, and many sculptors chose characters from the Hebrew Bible as the subjects for their heroic statuary. This was about asserting Jewish identity and for some was part of an overtly Zionist artistic agenda. During the interwar period, a much larger generation of Jewish sculptors arose, working in Paris and New York. Coming late to the party, they embraced the human figure as the core expressive element of their work.
Part 3 – Filling the Void: Sculpture by and for Jews After the Holocaust – The Jewish love affair with sculpture continued After World War Two, and many sculptors continued to celebrate the human form though often manipulating the subject for expressive – and often commemorative purpose. Perhaps more common was the adoption of abstraction by many Jewish artists. On the one hand, this was in keeping with older Jewish tradition, but it was also a response to the inhumanity of the Shoah. Working in metal, artists like Richard Serra and Beverly Pepper emphasize the materiality of the bronze or steel over symbolic or narrative meaning. Others used sculpture architecturally to decorate architecture, especially synagogues. In the late 20th century, many Jewish artists were also in the forefront of installation art which combined sculpture and other media with live performance. Alongside these developments was the creation of an entirely new genre of Jewish sculpture, the Holocaust memorial. Already in the 1940s artists were seeking a new sculptural language to express – or at least remind the world – of the horrors, suffering and insurmountable loss of the Shoah. Sculptors as varied as George Segal, Sol LeWiit, Joel Shapiro, Louise Nevelson, Elbert Weinberg, Luise Kaish, Richard Serra, and many others have all created Holocaust memorial sculptural art. The verdict is still out on how well they succeeded.
Samuel D, Gruber, Ph.D, accomplished researcher, author, curator and consultant, is the founder and managing director of Gruber Heritage Global (GHG) – a cultural resources consulting firm. For more than twenty years he has been a leader in the documentation, protection, preservation and presentation of Jewish cultural heritage sites around the world. He has written two books about synagogue architecture; American Synagogues: A Century of Architecture and Jewish Community (2003) and Synagogues (1999), and has contributed numerous chapters, articles and conference papers to other publications. Since 2008 he has written a popular blog “Samuel Gruber’s Jewish Art and Monuments.” Dr. Gruber has a B.A, in Medieval Studies from Princeton University, and M.A, M.Phil. and Ph.D. Degrees from Columbia University in Art History and Archeology; with a specialization in the history of architecture. He is a Rome Prize winner and Fellow of the American Academy of Rome and has received numerous research grants and has participated in many grant-funded team projects. Dr. Gruber has taught in the Jewish Studies Program at Syracuse University since 1994 and has given courses at Binghamton, Colgate, Columbia, Cornell and Temple Universities and LeMoyne College where he has taught about medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and Jewish art and architecture; Holocaust art and memory; and the history of plastics. Dr. Gruber lives in Syracuse, NY where he is an active member of Temple Concord, is past president of the Preservation Association of Central New York (PACNY) and is active in local art, history, and architecture efforts.
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La Biennale di Venezia: Our World Through Art
Part 1 – The Milk of Dreams – The Venice Biennale as a Reflection of World Politics and Trends – Sunday, August 21, 3:30 pm EDT
Part 2 – The International and American Pavilions – Race, Color, Gender and Colonialism – Monday, August 22, 3:30 pm EDT
Part 3 – The Israeli Pavilion – Thursday, August 25, 3:30 pm EDT
Part 4 – The Venice Biennale – Highlights and Favorites – Monday, August 29, 3:30 pm EDT
(online in partnership with the Orange County Jewish Community Scholar Program)
Coming to CSP directly from visiting the 2022 Venice Biennale, Shirel Horovitz will take us on a four-part deep dive into the largest and most established international art event in the world. The 59th Venice Biennale, opened this April after being postponed due to the pandemic from its original date in 2021. This is the second time since its inauguration in 1894 the Biennale was postponed due to a world crisis. The first instance was WWII, which pushed the 24th Biennale to 1948. This series will take us on a fascinating journey connecting art, world politics, economy and gender – including sessions devoted to the American and Israeli pavilions specifically. Each session is a stand alone, but you are invited for the full ride to fully grasp the magnitude and beauty of this truly amazing world art event.
Part 1 – The Milk of Dreams – The Venice Biennale as a Reflection of World Politics and Trends – “The Milk of Dreams” curated this year by Italian born, New York based curator Cecilia Alemani, features 58 countries, pulls together past and present mapping our world as it climbs out of the pandemic while being riddled with war and conflict. The curator leans into surrealism (an art rooted in the era of world wars) to create an exhibition that is both historic and revolutionary. In this session we’ll understand how the biennale came to be and how intertwined it is with world events, we’ll dive into this year’s exhibition with emphasis on the central exhibitions – “The Milk of Dreams.” From the return to surrealism and its relationship to the pandemic, through human-technology relations all the way to the role of women and rewriting history. All this while moving back and forth between the art that is shown and what lies behind the scenes to draw a nuanced and fresh view of our world today.
Part 2 – The International and American Pavilions – Race, Color, Gender and Colonialism – The national pavilions in the Biennale are each a doorway into a country’s story and aspirations. In this session we’ll start with the major national events such as the unique story of the Ukrainian pavilion and the Russian pavilion, the Nordic countries surprise move and five new countries that exhibited for the first time. Then, we’ll dive into the American pavilion – one of the major highlights of the 59th Biennale. Represented by Simone Leigh who won this year’s Golden Lion prize for best contribution to the Biennale’s international exhibition, the American pavilion This prize was given to her work “Brick House”, first presented in New York Highline, also curated by Cecilia Alemani, the curator of this year’s biennale (see the pattern?). In this session we’ll explore the American Pavilion, Leigh’s work and the connections between those and the political-social tides of our contemporary world taking a closer look at how art addresses questions of race, color, gender and colonialism.
Part 3 – The Israeli Pavilion – Israel joined the Venice Biennale in 1948, the year of its establishment and the year in which many new national pavilions were inaugurated reflecting the shifts in borders and countries post WWII. From its geographical connection to the American pavilion, to stories from behind the scenes, we’ll explore the history of the Israeli pavilion – hopping between major highlights and their reflections of historical events all the way to this year’s exhibition by artist Ilit Azoulay. Casting off the restrictions of national and male representations and opening pathways into an interconnected Middle East, Azoulay’s photographic and architectural installation titled “The Queendom” is a realm where stories coalesce. Her Panoramic Photomontages – based on the archive of art historian David Storm Rice (1913–1962) – use digital craftwork to visualize the afterlife of images and their transformations. We’ll explore Azoulay’s work diving deeper into photography as a way to invent rather than document, the challenges of telling a local story in an international environment and the play with the pavilion itself as part of the art.
Part 4 – The Venice Biennale – Highlights and Favorites – In this closing session, we’ll enjoy highlights from the 59th Biennale (based on Shirel’s top picks of this year’s exhibition).
Shirel Horovitz – Through sculpting, drawing and sound, Shirel Horovitz’s installations and performances explore the relations between cities and communities. She earned her BFA from Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, her MA from the Interdisciplinary Art Program at Tel Aviv University and has been studying and practicing Zen-Buddhist inquiry meditation since 2007. Her works have been exhibited in museums and galleries across Israel and the US. She is currently working on new sculptures and etchings in her studio in Tel Aviv.
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Becoming Elijah: Prophet of Transformation
Part 1 – Thursday, August 4, 3:30 pm EDT
Part 2 – Thursday, August 11, 3:30 pm EDT
Part 3 – Thursday, August 18, 3:30 pm EDT
(online in partnership with the Orange County Jewish Community Scholar Program)
In the Bible, Elijah is a zealous prophet, attacking idolatry and injustice, championing God. He performs miracles, restoring life and calling down fire. When his earthly life ends, he vanishes in a whirlwind, carried off to heaven in a fiery chariot. Was this a spectacular death, or did Elijah escape death entirely? The latter view prevailed. Though residing in heaven, Elijah revisits earth—to help, rescue, enlighten, and eventually herald the Messiah. Because of his messianic role, Jews open the door for Elijah during each Seder—the meal commemorating liberation from slavery and anticipating final redemption. How did this zealot turn into a compassionate hero—apparently the most popular figure in Jewish tradition? In our “Becoming Elijah” series, we explore this question, tracing how Elijah develops from the Bible to Rabbinic Judaism, Kabbalah, and Jewish ritual (as well as Christianity and Islam). His transformation is pertinent and inspirational for our polarized, fanatical world.
Daniel C. Matt is a teacher of Jewish spirituality and one of the world’s leading authorities on Kabbalah and the Zohar. He has been featured in Time and Newsweek and has appeared on National Public Radio and the History Channel. He has published over a dozen books, including Becoming Elijah: Prophet of Transformation (recently published by Yale University Press in their Jewish Lives series), The Essential Kabbalah (translated into eight languages), Zohar: Annotated and Explained, and God and the Big Bang: Discovering Harmony between Science and Spirituality (revised edition, 2016). Several years ago, Daniel completed an 18-year project of translating and annotating the Zohar. In 2016, Stanford University Press published his ninth volume of The Zohar: Pritzker Edition, concluding the Zohar’s main commentary on the Torah. For this work, Daniel has been honored with a National Jewish Book Award and a Koret Jewish Book Award. The Koret award hailed his translation as “a monumental contribution to the history of Jewish thought.” Daniel received his Ph.D. from Brandeis University and for twenty years served as professor at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. He has also taught at Stanford University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Daniel lives in Berkeley with his wife Hana.
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On the Road with Rabbi Steinsaltz – 25 Years of Pre-Dawn Car Trips, Mind-Blowing Encounters, and Inspiring Conversations with a Man of Wisdom
Tuesday, August 9, 3:30 pm EDT
(online in partnership with the Orange County Jewish Community Scholar Program)
Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz is internationally regarded as one of the most brilliant and influential rabbis of our time. He has been lauded by Time magazine as a “once-in-a-millennium scholar” and by Ted Koppel of Night Line as “one of the very few wise men that I’ve ever met.” Arthur Kurzweil—himself a Jewish scholar, author, teacher, and publisher—was a disciple of Rabbi Steinsaltz for over 25 years, and served as the Rabbi’s designated chauffeur in the United States. While stuck in countless traffic jams and attending the Rabbi’s lectures at universities, government agencies, synagogues and seminars, Arthur had the rare opportunity of personally learning from his inspired teacher and has become intimately familiar with the Rabbi’s wisdom and teachings. Join us when Arthur Kurzweil will share what he learned from 25 years of pre-dawn car trips, mind-blowing encounters, and inspiring conversations with a man of wisdom.
Often described as America’s foremost Jewish genealogist, Arthur Kurzweil’s name has become synonymous with Jewish genealogical research. His highly praised book, From Generation to Generation: How to Trace Your Jewish Genealogy and Family History, has become known as the definitive guidebook to the field. Kurzweil has spoken before hundreds of Jewish groups on a variety of topics related to Jewish genealogy. A co-founder of the very first Jewish Genealogical Society in the 1970’s, today there are nearly 70 Jewish genealogical societies throughout the world. Kurzweil has also authored two books in the for Dummies series: Kabbalah for Dummies and The Torah for Dummies. His other books are On the Road with Rabbi Steinsaltz, The Encyclopedia of Jewish Genealogy and My Generations: A Course in Jewish Family History, which is commonly used as a textbook at synagogue schools in the United States. Kurzweil was born in New York City, was raised in East Meadow, New York, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from New College at Hofstra University in 1971 and a Master of Library Science from Florida State University in 1972.
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“The Entire Face was Covered in Gold” – The Rediscovery of a Colorful Ancient World
Sunday, August 7, 7:00 pm EDT
(online in partnership with the Orange County Jewish Community Scholar Program)
When we think of temples, statues, and monuments we envision a pristine white surface whether the sides of a building or the face of a statue. Museums show off their collections of these elegant artifacts, and governmental and financial buildings hark back to the assumed gravitas of the neo-classical monochrome white. But the ancient world was much more colorful than we were taught in art classes – the temples, statues, and monuments were embellished and emboldened in colors that to us, today, may seem garish! In celebration of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s special exhibit “Chroma: Ancient Sculptures in Color”, and in commemoration of the destruction of The Temple on Tisha B’av we will look at what it may well have looked like to see these artifacts in their original environments.
Sharon Keller earned her doctorate at NYU in the Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies in the area of Bible and the Ancient Near East, is a member of the Classics faculty at Hofstra University. She has been an Assistant Professor of Bible and Ancient Semitic Languages at The Jewish Theological Seminary and at Hebrew Union College; she has also held appointments at NYU, and New York City’s Hunter College—teaching biblical text courses as well as more general courses in biblical literature and history, as well as the courses in the art and archaeology of the lands of the Bible and the ancient Mediterranean world. She has written and edited numerous scholarly articles and academic books, most of which relate to the interplay between biblical Israel and ancient Egypt. Her most popular book, Jews: A Treasury of Art and Literature was awarded the prestigious National Jewish Book Award. Known for the enthusiasm and humor that she brings to all of her talks that make otherwise esoteric subjects easily accessible, Sharon is an in-demand lecturer and adult education course instructor throughout the United States.
Sons of Abraham in the Civil War – What was it like to be a Jew in Lincoln’s armies?
Tuesday, August 2, 1:00 pm EDT
(online in partnership with the Orange County Jewish Community Scholar Program)
What was it like to be a Jew in Lincoln’s armies? The Union army was as diverse as the embattled nation it sought to preserve, a unique mixture of ethnicities, religions, and identities. Almost one Union soldier in four was born abroad, and natives and newcomers fought side-by-side, sometimes uneasily. Yet though scholars have parsed the trials and triumphs of Irish, Germans, African Americans, and others in the Union ranks, they have remained largely silent on the everyday experiences of the largest non-Christian minority to have served. In ways visible and invisible to their fellow recruits and conscripts, the experience of Jews was distinct from that of other soldiers who served in Lincoln’s armies. Join us as we examine the collective experience of Jewish soldiers and recover their voices and stories. Prof. Mendelsohn will explain why Jews decided to enlist, share stories about the encounters of Jewish soldiers with fellow soldiers, and describe how Jewish soldiers created community within the ranks.
Adam D. Mendelsohn is Director of the Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies and Associate Professor of History at the University of Cape Town. He is the author of The Rag Race: How Jews Sewed Their Way to Success in America and the British Empire and co-editor of Jews and the Civil War (with Jonathan D. Sarna) and of Transnational Traditions: New Perspectives on American Jewish History (with Ava Kahn), as well as curator of exhibitions at the New-York Historical Society, Princeton University Art Museum, and the Center for Jewish History. He has just finished the first book of a two volume history focused on the experience of Jewish soldiers during the Civil War.
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Secrets of the Torah Revealed
Part 5 – Deuteronomy/D’varim: Creating Israelite Religion
Monday, August 1, 2:00 pm EDT
(online in partnership with the Orange County Jewish Community Scholar Program)
What’s the difference between history and historiography? Between reality and religion? In Moses’ last words to the Israelites, he recounts the long history of the people in a manner that orients their consciousness (or perhaps brainwashes them) into understanding the events of their history—events that, in the original telling, simply occurred—as filled with theological import. In doing so, he creates a religion, and we, the readers of the Book of Deuteronomy, are treated to a rare opportunity to glimpse the methods and motivation of the “man behind the curtain,” and to see how such a thing is done.
Winner of the 2015 Jewish Book Award in Visual Arts for Skies of Parchment, Seas of Ink: Jewish Illuminated Manuscripts, Marc Michael Epstein is the product of a mixed marriage between the scions of Slonimer and Lubavitcher Hassidim and Romanian socialists, and grew up, rather confused, but happy, in Brooklyn, New York. He is currently Professor of Religion at Vassar College, where he has been teaching since 1992, and was the first Director of Jewish Studies. At Vassar, he teaches courses on medieval Christianity, religion, arts and politics, and Jewish texts and sources. He is a graduate of Oberlin College, received the PhD at Yale University, and did much of his graduate research at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He has written numerous articles and three books on various topics in visual and material culture produced by, for, and about Jews. His book, The Medieval Haggadah: Art, Narrative, and Religious Imagination (Yale, 2011) was selected by the London Times Literary Supplement as one of the best books of 2011. He is the Director of Beit Venezia, the home for International Jewish Studies in Venice, Italy.
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COMMUNITY PROJECTS
Ukraine Emergency Fund
Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP) has launched the Ukraine Emergency Fund to provide humanitarian assistance to the Jewish Community of Ukraine. All funds will go to partners on the ground in Ukraine to help with food, housing, medicine and other basic needs.
Learn more and Donate here
Chelsea Gateway Project
Yad Chessed
Sponsor meals for those in our community who are struggling with economic hardship and isolation and help to support other needs through Yad Chessed. Yad Chessed serves as a safety net for Jewish individuals and families and is rooted in the Jewish values of kindness (chessed) and charity (tzedakah). They are committed to helping those in need navigate a path toward financial stability while preserving their privacy and dignity. Questions can be directed to info@yadchessed.org.
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