HOLY SPARKS: 50 YEARS OF WOMEN IN THE RABBINATE
My artwork Mem is featured in this exhibition at the Dr. Bernard Heller Museum in NYC. I am deeply honored to have been selected for this groundbreaking exhibition.
The Holy Sparks exhibition at the Dr. Bernard Heller Museum in NYC pairs leading artists with 24 women rabbis to illuminate the creativity, commitment, and vision of women who were “firsts” in their time. Their challenges and contributions, struggles and successes, represent the achievements of all women rabbis since June 3, 1972, when Rabbi Sally Priesand was ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion as the first woman rabbi in America.
I was paired with Rabbi Gesa Ederberg of Berlin’s Oranienburgerstrasse Synagogue. In this painting the shul’s golden dome, representing German Jewry’s past splendor, morphs into a scroll featuring the letter Mem for Masorti. Rabbi Ederberg is the leader of Masorti Germany. The scroll seems to be lit from within, illustrating how this rabbi, as the first female pulpit rabbi in Berlin, has brought new life and spirituality into the German community. She is bringing the Berlin Jewish community, that previously pioneered the liberal Judaism movement, into the Berlin public life and into religious dialogue.
Exhibition schedule:
DR. BERNARD HELLER MUSEUM, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion/New York -- February 1 - May 8, 2022
SKIRBALL MUSEUM, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion/Cincinnati -- May 19 - September 4, 2022
ORGANIZED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE BRAID
This exhibition, depicting the collective impact of women rabbis across the denominations and a broad spectrum of identities, demonstrates that it is our unity without uniformity that strengthens us as a people. The art presented exemplifies the role of contemporary women artists in advancing Jewish culture through the visual expression of Jewish history, values, and identity."
The works in the exhibition range from representational to conceptual portraits of the rabbis created in a variety of mediums, including photography, textile, painting, mixed media, collage, drawing, and recycled materials. Each work is informed by the rabbi's life story, vision, and mission, further elaborated in the accompanying wall labels with the rabbis' biographies and QR-code links to their video interviews. The portraits are presented chronologically by year of ordination, to reveal each decade’s pioneers as inspiration for the next.
DR. BERNARD HELLER MUSEUM
One West Fourth Street, New York, NY
Hours: Monday - Thursday, 9 am - 6 pm
Tours/Information: 212-824-2218; pfreedman@huc.edu
SKIRBALL MUSEUM
3101 Clifton Avenue, Cincinnati, OH
Hours: Tuesday & Thursday, 11 am - 3 pm; Sunday with reservations, 1-4 pm
Tours/Information: awheeler@huc.edu; 513-487-3231
UCLA HILLEL GALLERY
Los Angeles, CA
September 2024