Time, whether timeless, blurred, or dated has heroes…

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Time For Passover

The work was created in the spirit of showing images from the past but creating them with a modern flair.

Through the history of civilization and especially true for the Jewish people, humans have always struggled for and defended their right to freedom. Freedom is the right of all humans and a very basic need. Just like water or air, we need freedom to grow, to thrive, and just to be. From the time of the exodus from Egypt, we Jews have had to fight for our freedom time and time again. Freedom means not only throwing off the yolk of slavery, but the right to practice our religion without fear of persecution and the ability to openly and honestly say and be who we are. As Jews it is our responsibility as much as it is our right to preserve our freedom by never forgetting all that we have done and continue to do to defend it. Through customs, ceremony, tradition, and art we will always remember.

Erik Kučera
Palm Beach, Florida
www.modernity.us.com

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Taste the Experience, mapping the journey to freedom
inspired by “The Miracle Hater” by Shulamith Hareven

This wine tasting exercise invites participants to pair each of four wine choices with the experiences of the Israelites during their river, sea, desert, and mountain journey to freedom. Descriptions of the landscape are cited from “The Miracle Hater” and the Torah.

Wine serves as a excellent metaphor for the Passover seder.

Just as each grape presents itself in a unique way, the Jewish vision of freedom is nuanced and unique.

Just as the various components of wine hope to blend harmoniously, so too do members of the broad Jewish community aspire for respect.

Just as the aroma, flavor and color of the wine should be well defined, so too should Jews recognize their particular approach to the world.

Just as each year new questions and quests for freedom come to the table, so too each year the wine offers something new.

Just as there is a connection between the plot of land of the vineyards and the wine, so too is there a connection between the Jew and his/her cultural identity.

On the night before the Israelites left Egypt, G-d commanded them to eat the pascal lamb with family. Likewise on Passover bottles of wine are shared at the seder table, reminding us that the Jewish vision of freedom is within community. The effects of wine mellow the stubborn, inspire the dreamer and bring joy to the hopeful.

Naomi Fishman
St. Louis, Missouri

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Dancing Women

This piece represents a visual midrash I completed in 2007 highlighting Miriam’s response at the Sea as one of the earliest ritual acts in Judaism. The ritual of seeing, standing, and giving voice to the moment is the act of leadership that inspired a congregation of women to follow her example. Thirty Five hundred years later this dancer experiences a liberating moment after a long week of teaching dance in a foreign country. On the very last day, she and her performing partner were liberated and sent to the beach. This photo illustrates her response to her own liberating moment at the shores of a very different sea.

Dale Schreiber
St. Louis, Missouri

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Yafah II 2013

Tobi Kahn offered this artwork to the exhibit as a tribute to women and their role in the Passover story- the mother, the muse and the judge- those who are the visionaries of freedom. In this exhibit, the three proud and beautiful women were displayed among the Miriams.

Tobi Kahn
St. Louis, Missouri
www.tobikahn.com

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Miriam’s Journey

Miriam, daughter of Amram and Jocheved, prophesized that her mother would give birth to a son who would deliver the Jewish people from Egypt. When Moses was born, Jocheved hid him to thwart Pharaoh’s decree of death to all male newborns. At three months of age, when he was no longer safe in her care, she set him in the Nile, directing Miriam to follow her brother until he was found by another and drawn from the water to freedom. For the rest of her life, Miriam was Moses’ stalwart supporter, a leader of our people.

Our parents and grandparents survived pogroms of Russia and “the camps” of Hitler’s Germany. Every year at the Passover Seder we not only read the story of Hebrew slaves and their deliverance from bondage in Egypt, we hear stories of persecution and liberation in the voices of our closest loved ones. Their stories became a part of who we are; they live in our hearts and souls.

We three often collaborate on Jewish themed artworks, as we have done with” Miriam’s Journey”, an artistic expression of the universal need for freedom, of our heritage, and our shared life experiences.

Miriam At The Nile

Exodus 2:3-4
And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch; and she put the child therein, and laid it in the flags by the river’s brink. And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him.

This mask of Miriam is an artistic interpretation of her following Moses after he is placed in the river by his mother. I envision Miriam “becoming one with the river,” guiding Moses gently along until he was drawn from the water safely into the arms of Pharaoh’s daughter.

Miriam The Prophetess

Exodus 15:20
And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.

There are seven prophetesses in the Torah, Miriam perhaps the greatest. Without her prophecy, Moses the Redeemer may never have been born, as the Hebrew men were loath to have any children, fearing any sons would be slaughtered.
 

Miriam The Leader

Exodus 15:20
And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.

With song and dance, Miriam led the praise of G-d’s gift of freedom.

 
 
 

Miriam The Leper

Numbers 12: 1-2, 10
And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married… And they said: Hath the Lord indeed spoken only with Moses? Hath he not spoken also with us?… And when the cloud was removed from over the Tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow…

When Miriam questioned Moses’ commitment to the People, G-d punished her by inflicting tzaraat or leprosy. XXXXXXXXX SPACING TO FILL TO LINE UP PHOTOS XXXXXXXXX

Shelly Milder, Josie Rosenthal, and Rose Rosenthal
St. Louis, Missouri

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Safe Haven: Wellington

At the heart of this work is a photograph of my mother, uncle, and friend in Wellington, New Zealand during World War II where my family found a safe haven. I am always touched by the comparison with photographs of other Jewish children from that time. My relatives were free to worship in an orthodox synagogue and participate in an inclusive community. My mother and uncle attended Church of Scotland schools, and wear their uniforms here. My grandparents assisted the Allied war effort in volunteer capacities, responding to the threat of Japanese invasion. The experience of acceptance and mutual support fostered our appreciation for freedom to worship and maintain one’s traditions- rights we all have, but do not always enjoy. It also created a blended Jewish/Scottish heritage in our family, combining two cultures that understand the effects of diaspora.

Claire Marcus
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
                                              www.clairemarcusfinearts.com

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