At The Library Jewish Theological Seminary
And if Not Now, When?
When you see a talmid chacham pass by, you stand up to honor him and his learning. You then return to your own learning inspired to do more and to learn deeper. The same…
Chagall in Mother Russia
If you didn't know this was the famous Chagall, and if you didn't know Chagall was going to become perhaps the greatest Jewish painter of the twentieth century; what would you think of the early works of this artist when he…
Pictures from Beyond
“He sustains the living with kindness, resuscitates the dead with abundant mercy... and maintains His faith to those asleep in the dust.” We have this faith in our God. And, as we can, we emulate Him. We remember and maintain faith with…
At The Metropolitan Museum
The Courtyard of a House in Delft, 1658, oil on canvas by Pieter de Hooch, lent by The National Gallery, London
Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675), one of the great masters of the Golden Age of Dutch painting, had nothing to do with the…
The Rylands Haggadah: A Cry from Catalonia, Part II
In the late 1300s a masterpiece of Jewish Art was produced in Northeastern Spain in Catalonia. Over the years this Jewish community had been subject to increasing hostility from their Christian rulers in the form of…
The Rylands Haggadah: A Cry from Catalonia
I want to take you on a journey to a land where Jews once flourished. They even felt secure enough to make this masterful illuminated manuscript, the Rylands Haggadah. This Jewish community had been fully legitimate citizens of…
Artemisia and Esther
Artemisia Gentileschi, Esther Before Ahasuerus, 1622, oil on canvas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Elinor Dorrance Ingersall
Whether it is Purim or not, it’s always a good time to see Artemisia at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Artemisia Gentileschi is the…
At The Jewish Museum: Charlotte Salomon's Legacy
What would do if you knew there was a play, a play with text and music, that told the story of one whole life. A Jewish life. The story of a young woman, told from before she was…
Retrospective At Yeshiva University Museum: Moritz Daniel Oppenheim
Many of these paintings I do not like. Some I do. All of them are very important for us to look at and understand since Oppenheim’s work represents the seminal encounter between Jewish tradition and the challenges…
Jewish Genre Painting
Itshak Holtz is an artist totally immersed in the Jewish genre. He was born in Poland, grew up in Israel, mainly in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Geula, and for the last thirty-five years he has maintained homes in both New York and…
55 Year Retrospective Exhibition
Ita Aber is a very unusual artist. Her work is in almost every major Jewish museum throughout the world. She is a master of the Fabric Arts, which is, by its very nature, an interdisciplinary field. As practiced by Ita Aber…
Isidor Kaufmann, Friday Evening, c. 1920, oil on canvas, 28 5/8 × 35 7/8 inches, The Jewish Museum
Isidor Kaufmann - Shabbos
We must be very quiet in front of this painting. It exudes a stillness and peace that envelopes us and makes us lower our…