Fifty Years and Counting!

This family tree was created in honor of a couple who recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.  Being that I've only been married 4 years I find that number quite impressive!
What was also impressive was the amount of effort, care, and concern the youngest child, who happens to be an old childhood friend, put in to making this gift happen.  It's not easy trying to get four other older siblings to agree on colors and design and every other detail that goes into creating a piece of artwork!  But they did it, and hopefully everyone will be pleased with the result.

The tree is made from canson paper, cut with a knife and mounted on a 20 x 24 in. canvas.  The canvas is painted with acrylic paint.

  
The writing is done in Indian ink and the edges are highlighted in gold paint.

 
Here's to another 50!  Mazal tov!

Bat- Mitzvah Gift

Who doesn't like to see their name up in lights?  Or at least a papercut of their name hung in their home!  This piece was created as a Bat-Mitzvah gift.  However it can also be a beautiful gift for a new baby.  Or you can make it into a Bar-Mitzvah gift and perhaps put a pasuk from the Bar-Mitzvah boy's parsha or haftorah around the cut out of his name.   

I'm not sure why I always take pictures from this angle.  I think it adds some drama, what do you think?

Also from this angle, you can really see the curling of the paper.  The piece is a square (12 in. x 12 in.) and is canson paper, cut with a knife and matted on hand made tie-dyed blue and purple paper.  Oh, and the Bat-Mitzvah girl loved it!

Levy Ketubah

No Ketubah could be as colorful as the personality of the bride for whom it was created but I did try to make the border pretty vibrant.
The bride has been my close friend for the past eleven years, and it was such a privilege to be able to design her ketubah. Together we spent a couple of summers traveling through Australia and Europe, teaching some Torah along the way (mainly because of me) and sharing some pretty crazy experiences (mainly because of her).

 The ketubah is an updated version of the Lisbon Ketubah, with blues replacing the earth tones of the original Lisbon manuscript. The filagree that surrounds the ketubah is cut with a knife to really make it pop and the border is inspired by illuminations from Rambam's Mishneh Torah (Lisbon,1472).  The bride and groom chose meaningful verses from Shir HaShirim to frame the Ketubah.

Colored pencil, Indian ink and acrylic. (24 x 30 in.)

Paroches-Ark Curtain

Last summer relatives of mine asked if I would be willing to a design a paroches for their shul in Lakewood, New Jersey.  The paroches would be dedicated in the memory of their mother Sima who had recently passed away.  Cousin Sima lived in Mexico and I grew up in Elizabeth, New Jersey.  I didn't have many memories of her but I could vividly picture an embroidered tablecloth that was a gift from Sima to my grandmother and was used on Sabbaths and holidays.  The tablecloth was white with thick bright blue, yellow and red threads hand-sewn into the cloth in an intricate floral pattern.   I had never designed a paroches and was excited at the prospect and even more so I loved the idea that I would be creating a piece of embroidery in memory of Cousin Sima.

 

This is a picture of the design of the paroches.  My relatives who ordered the piece wanted the standard "Tree of Life"  in the center but with an explosion of color surrounding it.  It was a different experience creating an artwork, while taking into account how the piece would be translated as an embroidered work.  I loved the challenge and was excited with the results.  Below is a picture of the completed paroches.  I'm still waiting for a more professional picture of it, but until I get one, this will give you an idea of how it came out.

Sinai of New Jersey's Annual Dinner

This is the piece I created for the honorees at Sinai of New Jersey's annual dinner.  The couple that was being honored loves music and so the inner circle cut-out  has a harp along with the words chessed (charity), shira (song) and refuah (healing).

Insights into Birkat Habanim Custom

One of the earliest mentions of the custom to bless the children on Friday night appears in the Siddur Beis Yaakov of Rav Yaakov Emden (Altona, 1745).

He writes, that it is the custom of the people of Israel to bless their children on Friday night after evening prayer services or as they enter their home upon returning from shul. With the onset of Shabbos, shefa, loosely translated as Divine blessing, is abound and by blessing our children we are able to grab hold of that free flowing Divine grace and pass it on to our children which in turn allows for the blessing to multiply manifold times.  Children are the best receptacles of this shefa because they are uncontaminated by sin and therefore serve as purer conduits of the shefa.  However, he adds, one should still bless their older children as well.

When conferring the blessing one should place both hands upon the child's head as Moshe Rabeinu did when he blessed Yehoshua and transferred the mantle of leadership to him.  Blessing with both hands demonstrates a wholeheartedness in your desire to bless the other person.  This is the reason the kohanim bless us with two hands and our Rabbis tell us that angels bless man with two hands on Friday night as well. Although we are provided with the standard text for blessing our children on Friday night, Rav Emden notes one is allowed to add his own personal blessing in whatever language he desires.

Birkhat HaBat

It's been a while since my last post, although I have good reason for my reticence...thank God I gave birth to a baby girl at the end of December.  In honor of her birth I decided to post one of my latest designs, which is an intricate illumination of the Birkhat HaBat.  The fleshy leaves that decorate the blessing are inspired by a page from the Kaufman Haggadah (Spain, late 14th century).  There is a beautiful custom for parents to bless their children on Friday nights before the start of the Friday night Sabbath dinner.  The blessing for girls states:

May God make you like Sarah, Rivkah, Rachel and Leah.  May Hashem bless you and safeguard you.  May Hashem illuminate His countenance for you and be gracious to you.  May Hashem turn His countenance to you and establish peace for you.

There is a separate blessing for boys...maybe that will be a future design.

Look out for my next post which will explain the origin of this custom!