The WTC Grogger

It is a unique privilege to know the human joy of making things. This activity is a means to a connection with the most spiritual of places. One from which happiness is not a pursuit but an instantaneous moment. The journey of considering a material, a form, a function, and all of the relationships surrounding made things transforms both the material and the maker. For this reason, I rarely make the same thing twice. It is the opportunity to explore that has opened my eyes and nourishes me.

I consider the grogger a device of transformation. I believe it offers that opportunity to feel connected and to know the joy of what it is to be human. As an individual – part of a congregation, a culture, a religion – we navigate myriad relationships. When we participate in the act that traditions teach, we are given the opportunity to remember and connect. This grogger contains steel from the wreckage of the World Trade Center Towers. The steel rattles within the glass. The rebar handle presses deeply into ones hand. The remains of the steel beams that it rests on. It is physically demanding to travel with you to that place where you can remember and know what you are and what you are a part of.

Micah Roufa

The steel was recovered from the World Trade Center after September 11, 2001 and is courtesy of The Port Authority of NY & NJ and is displayed in memory of 2,752 victims including: 343 New York City Firefighters, 37 Port Authority Police Officers, and 23 New York City Police Officers.

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The Rain Maker Grogger

Thirty Six, double chai, pieces nails create the sounds of rain. If you move the grogger back and forth slowly, you can hear the drizzle; if you move it more quickly you can create a downpour. The sound of rain is soothing. Water on the soil allows us to grow food.

Josie Rosenthal

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The Bird Song Grogger

This grogger is painted gourd with wood burning accents, feathers and stones. I like to bring into relief the images that are already in the material I use. I painted a mother bird feeding her young and thought about the bird songs that can ease an angry heart.

Shelly Tobin Milder

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The Glass Grogger

This rattle-inspired glass grogger is handcrafted out of Pyrex glass. It houses 18 glass marbles to blot out the sound of evil. This piece features dichroic detail on the marbles and custom color combinations on the handle.

David Alper

David, a St. Louis native, has been creating glass art since 1997 and uses the flameworking process which utilizes a gas and oxygen flame to melt and shape the glass. For custom work, e-mail davidalperglass@gmail.com.

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The Artichoke Grogger

This grogger is made of porcelain and copper. The outside sharp pieces are protective of the vulnerable, yet sustaining food. This grogger makes its sound with metal pieces and beans; it suggests that people can get very angry if they do not have enough food. Recognizing a problem that could be solved can ease an angry heart.

Josie Rosenthal

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Purim Grogger

This grogger is a soda fired stoneware vessel. Inspired by architecture and historical Middle Eastern and Mediterranean vessels, it combines Ibur’s interest in making musical instruments that also function as beautiful decorative objects.

Inside the vessel is a playing stick that sweeps across vertical lines of the lid. The lid can be removed and held with your hand holding it on the edge or the hand can be inside the chamber and the stick sweeps perpendicular to the lines echoing the more traditional grogger.

Jim Ibur

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The Grogger Man

This grogger is made from mixed media. The colors evoke the anger and strength one feels when confronting an enemy. Its sounds, deep and strong, can ease an angry and frightened heart.

Shelly Tobin Milder

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All Of A Peace

“All Of A Peace” is an answer to the questions posed by this exhibit, “What sounds/sights can appease an angry heart?” My answer to this question is simple: the sounds and sights of children playing: their laughter as it is carried by the wind and the freedom and joy to which they abandon themselves in play. I have created this playful piece as an alternative to the traditional ‘grogger’ because I believe so strongly tthat children are the future of Peace. If the tinkling of their laughter and their unsteady toddling into our arm creates the sense that all is well with the world, then we have been blessed indeed.

Ellen Deschatres
www.ellendeschatres.com

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The Turtle Warrior Grogger

The turtles are sea and land creatures and are comfortable at the boundaries of sea and land. They carry armor on their backs. The grogger makes the sound of water hitting the gravel on a beach. The sound that eases an angry heart suggests that the world could be a place where everyone is safe, but the image of the hard shell of the turtle suggests that until then we better be able to protect ourselves.

Josie Rosenthal

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The Silent Grogger

This silent grogger was placed in a hand to help make the world know that the threats to Israel’s and our existence did not cease with the destruction of the evil Haman. There are still those who want to destroy us. The hand shaking the grogger will cause it to make noise so that we will wake up.

Frank Enger

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Grogger Kabbalah

This grogger seeks the harmony of discordant sounds to blot out Haman’s name. It is inspired by the Kabbalist’s drawing of the forces that God revealed in the creation of the world. The 10 Sefirot, connected by the energy of interaction, resemble the mast of a ship that carries us forward as the winds of life move us along.

Naomi Fishman
With the help of Norman Fishman, Dikla and Steve Roufa, and Tsion Toledano

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Kind Words Are The Key

This grogger was a collaborative effort made by B’nai Amoona’s afternoon enrichment class under the guidance of Zeena Goldenberg. The afternoon enrichment class of 3, 4, and 5 year olds were asked to think of different words people can use to make others feel bad and different words that can make people feel good. They discussed how they wanted to be treated, and noted that they wanted others to treat them the same way.

In a small sense they learned about the concepts of opposites, but in the larger sense, they learned about the ethical treatment of others. Visitors were invited to choose keys to unlock the outside doors of hate and cruelty and discover the inside, a place of love and respect for one another as seen through the eyes of pre-schoolers.

Zeena Goldenberg
B’nai Amoona Preschoolers

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