USA: Jean-Jacques Duval's Connecticut Synagogue Stained Glass Still Dazzles After 50 Years

Hamden, CT (USA). Congregation Mishkan Israel. Chapel windows by Jean-Jacques Duval (1960). Photo: Samuel D. Gruber (2011)

Hamden, Connecticut. Congregation Mishkan Israel, Chapel. Fritz Nathan and Betram Bassuk, archs. Jean-Jacques Duval, stained glass artist. Ark design, unidentified.

Woodbridge, CT (USA). Congregation B'nai Jacob. Sanctuary windows by Jean-Jacques Duval (1962). Photo: Samuel D. Gruber (2011)

Woodbridge, CT (USA). Congregation B'nai Jacob. Sanctuary windows by Jean-Jacques Duval (1962). Photo: Samuel D. Gruber (2011)

Woodbridge, CT (USA). Congregation B'nai Jacob. Chapel windows by Jean-Jacques Duval (1962). Photo: Samuel D. Gruber (2011)

USA: Connecticut Synagogue Stained Glass Still Dazzles After 50 Years:
Jean-Jacques Duval Has Helped Change the Look of American Synagogues

In 2009 I wrote an article for Tablet Magazine about Abstract Expressionist artist Adolph Gottlieb's stained glass windows in the Kingsway Jewish Center in Brooklyn (this article has just been republished, without slide show, in a special Shavuot synagogue issue of New York's Jewish Week). I was already long interested in synagogue stained glass, but Gottlieb's work made me more attentive to the innovative techniques, colors and symbols employed by synagogue stained glass artists in the 1950s and 1960s, the heydey of American abstract art. Gottieb was able to successfully transform the traditional Jewish use of a limited number of religious and cultural symbols to a larger abstract artistic aesthetic. Gottlieb's program also suggested a nearly-attainable grasp of archetypal highly charged symbols of both personal and cosmic significance, in the tradition of Jewish mysticism.

Brooklyn, New York. Kingsway Jewish Center. Sanctuary window detail, designed by Adolp Gottieb. Photo: Samuel Gruber.

I was therefore delighted when visiting Connecticut earlier this spring to encounter two exemplary stained glass programs by artist Jean-Jacques Duval (b. 1930) in synagogues I was visiting for their architecture. Both Congregation Mishkan Israel in Hamden and Congregation B'nai Jacob in Woodbridge were designed by Fritz Nathan and Bertram Bassuk (1918-1996), and both include chapels with stained glass by Duval, and Duval did the sanctuary work at B'nai Jacob, too. According to Duval, who remains active as a artist today with more 450 major commissions completed, he and fellow artist Robert Pinart were brought in by the architects for Mishkan Israel.

These synagogues were truly international efforts. Nathan (1891-1960), who had been a prominent modernist in Germany before World War II and arrived in the United States as a refugee in 1940. Duval was born in Strasbourg, France in 1930 . After the War he studied at Ecole des Arts Decoratif in Strasbourg, and then in 1950, he accepted an offer to design stained glass in United States. In 1957 he opened his own studio in New York City. Pinart was born in Paris in 1926 and came to America in 1951. Both Duval and Pinart have achieved great success in their long careers). Today Duval lives and maintains Duval Design Studio in the Adirondack Mts. near Saranac, NY.

Pinart made windows for the Mishkan Israel sanctuary, and Duval for the chapel. According to Mishkan Israel Rabbi Herbert Brockman, his predecessor Rabbi Robert E Goldburg disagreed with architect Nathan over the Ark design, and brought in artist Ben Shahn to create a more monumental arrangement (flanked by Pinart's ark-wall windows). When near-by Conservative Congregation B'nai Jacob adapted the recent Mishkan Israel design for their new suburban synagogue, Duval was engaged for all the stained glass work.

One of Duval's windows at Mishkan Israel has a similar feel to Gottlieb's - and it immediately drew my attention. But Duval's fractured symbols are much more recognizable than Gottlieb's, (more akin to those Robert Motherwell used in his painted panel in Millburn, New Jersey), and firmly within the Jewish symbolic "canon." One reads the long strip window on one side of the Mishkan Israel chapel as a unrolled scroll, with each "sheet" illustrated by one symbol. There are tablets, a book, kiddish cups, etc. and a domed form that may be a tent, or a priest's hat, or something else (in fact, it look remarkably like the Beth Shalom synagogue designed by Percival Goodman in Miami).

Hamden, CT (USA). Congregation Mishkan Israel. Chapel windows by Jean-Jacques Duval (1960). Photo: Samuel D. Gruber (2011)

Duval's greatest success, however, in both chapels, was his ability to create full walls of stained glass that actually helped emphasize and strengthen the shape of the space instead of distracting from it. Duval has demonstrated this talent for making architectural walls that complemented the architecture design in many synagogue and church commissions. Most of his stained glass windows are not to be seen through, or even to be looked at as pictures. Rather, they enclose the viewer to create a container of worship space. Betram Bassuk, writing of Duval in Faith & Form the Interfaith The Journal on Religion, Art and Architecture said “I regard his empathy toward the architectural enclosure of which his work is to be an integral part, to be as fundamental a factor in his creative imagination as is his composing of its symbolic content.” At Mishkan Israel duval created a mosaic like affect of colored glass panels, roughly rectangular in shape, out of which appear across the entire composition - but only a certain angles - large nine-branched menorahs (see above). A similar effect is achieved over the Ark in the main sanctuary at Congregation B'nai Jacob (see above), though there the form of the seven-branch Temple Menorah is used. in the B'nai Jacob Chapel the use of symbols is more overt and I think, therefore, less successful artistically.

Woodbridge, Connecticut. Congregation B'nai Jacob, Chapel. Fritz Nathan and Betram Bassuk, archs. Jean-Jacques Duval, stained glass artist.

Woodbridge, Connecticut. Congregation B'nai Jacob, Sanctuary. Fritz Nathan and Betram Bassuk, archs. Jean-Jacques Duval, stained glass artist.

Jean-Jacques Duval has provided me with a list of the synagogues for which he and his studio designed stained glass. Both Mr. Duval and I encourage readers familiar with these windows - or those who wish to discover them - to send us photos of heir current descriptions. In some cases synagogues have moved and buildings have been sold, and the fate of the Duval stained is unknown.

List of Synagogues with Duval windows (names of congregation may be inexact):

Ahavath Achim, Bronx, NY

Ohav Sholom Congr., Merrick, NY

Jackson Heights Jewish Ct., Jackson Heights, NY

State Hospital Chapel, Orangeburg, NY

Shellbank Jewish Center, Brooklyn, NY

B’Nai Zion, EI Paso, TX

Forest Hills Jewish Center, Forest Hills, NY

Beth Jacob, Newburg, NY

United Syn. of America, New-York, NY

Huntington Jewish Center, Huntington, NY

Mt Sinai, New-York, NY

(Former) Congr. B’nai David, Southfield, MI

Southfield, Michigan. (Former) Congr. B’nai David. Sidney Eisenshtat, arch. Jean-Jacque Duval stained glass artist. Photo: Samuel Gruber.

Temple Israel, Dayton, OR

Temple Beth EI, Stamford, CT

Congr. B’Nai Jacob, Woodbridge, CT

Temple Mishkan Israel, Hampden, CT

Westchester Jewish Center, Mamaroneck, NY

East End Temple New-York, NY

Cong. Etz Chaim, Jacksonville, FL

Temple Israel, Boston, MA

Ohab Emeth, New Brunswick, NJ

Congr. Tifereth Israel, New Bedford MA

Temple Beth Tikuah, Wayne, NJ

Temple B ‘Nai Jeshurun, Short Hills, NJ

Highland Park Temple, Highland Park, NJ

B’Nai Shalom, Long Branch, NJ

Beth Avodah, Westbury, NY

Temple Shalom, Plainfield, NJ

Mt Sinai Congr., Brooklyn, NY

Temple Beth EI. Huntington, NY

Temple Beth EL, Monroe, NY,

Temple Concord, Binghampton. NY

Sephardic Temple. Cedarhurst, NY,

Temple Anshe Emeth, Yougstown, OH,

Temple Beth Sholom Flushing, NY,

Temple Emanu-EI Yonkers, NY,

Midchester Jewish Center Yonkers, NY

North Shore Congregation, Syossett, NY

Beth Torah Temple, Philadelphia, PA

Congregation B’nai Israel, Pittsburgh, P A

Agudath Achim, Savannah, GA

Heska Amuna Synagogue, Knoxville, TN

Beth EI Synagogue, Minneapolis, MN

Beth EI Temple, Steubenville, OH

Temple Sinai, EI Paso, TX

El Paso, Texas. Temple Sinai, chapel. Sidney Eisenshtat, arch. Jean-Jacque Duval stained glass artist. Photo: Paul Rocheleau.

Bergenfield Dumont J.C., Bergenfield, NJ

Westville Synagogue, New Haven, CT

Hebrew Tabernacle, New-York, NY

Temple Oheb Shalom, South Orange, NJ

Temple Israel Center, White Plains, NY

Temple Israel, New York, NY

To My Readers: Shana Tova!

To my readers,

Best wishes for a sweet, happy, healthy, peaceful and productive New Year! Shana Tova! I look forward to hearing from you in the coming year.

Sam Gruber

Jewish Heritage Research Center
& International Survey of Jewish Monuments




Above: Rosh Hoshanah detail from sanctuary of Beth Emeth, Albany, New York. The windows combine representational and symbolic portions of the windows from the congregation's previous home in downtown Albany (artist unknown) with abstract glass created by Robert Sowers for the new building designed by Percival Goodman and completed in 1957.

This photo is part of continuing documentation of American stained glass synagogue windows collected by the International Survey of Jewish Monuments (photos: Samuel D. Gruber/ISJM 2008).

USA: Syracuse (NY) Former Temple Adath Yeshurun to be Developed as a Hotel

Syracuse, NY. Former Temple Adath Yeshurun when in use as a theater.
Photo: Samuel Gruber (1997)

Syracuse, NY. Former Temple Adath Yeshurun with exterior cleaned, awaiting adaptive reuse.
Photo: Samuel D. Gruber (2009)

Syracuse,NY. Temple Adath Yeshurun sanctuary in 1930s. Gordon Wright, architect.

USA: Syracuse (NY) Former Temple Adath to be Developed as a Hotel
by Samuel D. Gruber

Last April, Reform Temple Society of Concord in Syracuse, NY, dedicated in 1911, was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It is the only pre-World War II synagogue building in Syracuse that retains it original congregation and use. The congregation, founded in 1839, will begin celebration of the centennial of the building next year.

Meanwhile, the nearby former Orthodox Beth El was abandoned by its congregation in the 1960s. For awhile, it was a Baptist Church, and now it is used by a Messianic "Jewish" congregation.

The third historic synagogue building at the corner of Harrison St. and Crouse Ave. on "The Hill" (adjacent to the ever-expanding campus of Syracuse University) is the former Temple Adath Yeshurun (TAY), designed by noted Syracuse architect Gordon Wright and dedicated in 1922. The congregation, founded in 1870, had previously occupied the Naistadter Shul built 1878 on Mulberry (now State) Street, just down the hill to the west in what was once the city's prime area of Jewish settlement. Most of the district was demolished as part of 1970's "urban renewal." Wright's brick building is prominently sited and can be seen from afar. The design is simple stolid and severe. It distinguishing exterior feature is 4-column portico in antis, where the columns are unusually tall and narrow, culminating in Egyptian-influenced capitals. A inscription is on the frieze in Hebrew and English declares (from Psalm 118) "Open Ye the Portals of Righteousness I Will Enter and Praise God." A Star of David is set into the pediment.

Syracuse, NY. Former Temple Adath Yeshurun with exterior cleaned, awaiting adaptive reuse.
Photo: Samuel D. Gruber (2009)

TAY's congregation left the building in 1968, and moved to a new complex designed by Percival Goodman just inside the city's eastern boundary. They took some of the stained glass windows which are now installed in the vestibule area between the sanctuary and the social hall (see pictures).

Syracuse, NY. Temple Adath Yeshurun (Kimber Road). Parts of stained glass windows from 1922 sanctuary inserted in 1969 building. Photos: Samuel D. Gruber (2005).

In something of a forced deal, the city of Syracuse bought the large classical-style building from the congregation. Stuck with what many considered at the time (of great economic stress) a "white elephant," the city eventually leased the site to a local theater company. Then, in 2004, when was shown that the Salt City Center for the Performing Arts had failed to sufficiently invest in the building's maintenance, and to keep it up to code, the city evicted the theater group and the building sat empty. The theater had blacked out the sanctuary, and subsequent water damage from the leaking roof destroyed interior plasterwork. Some patterned stained glass was still visible in the building a few years ago. Its not clear what has happened to this. In an auction of the theater's assets, several architectural elements of the building including chandeliers and lights fixtures were inappropriately and possibly illegally sold.

In 2006, local developer Norman Swanson, who owns two nearby hotels and many other properties, offered to buy the building from the city for $352,000 through his company the Woodbine Group. His plan, at a time of increased interest in upscale city housing, was to convert the building to spacious condominiums, and to add on a new apartment tower wing near the building rear, in an area that was already surface parking. The the already compromised interior articulation of the building would be lost, but Swanson promised to restore the exterior, to maintain it "landmark" presence in the neighborhood - an area where much of the older architecture has already been demolished for University and Hospital expansion. The City of Syracuse accepted Swanson's proposal over another which would have utilized the interior for a restaurant and entertainment space, figuring that Swanson was more likely to be able to find funding for his project. The Preservation Association of Central New York (of which I was Board President) analyzed both plans and endorsed Swanson's as the best way to both save the empty and deteriorating building and to benefit the local tax base, too.

The difficult economy which compounded the always difficult development process in Syracuse postponed Swanson's plans. He did go ahead with the exterior restoration, but had to change his plan for housing to project with commercial space (to be called "Temple Commons." That plan, too, has failed, and now Swanson will break ground in October on a new adaptive reuse plan, transforming the building into a boutique hotel. Running hotels is something Swanson does well, and a few years ago the Preservation Association gave Swanson's company an award for its sensitive transformation of the 1920s Medical Arts Building into Parkview Hotel. Despite problems in the local hotel market (the nearby Renaissance Hotel, next to to the Parkview has just gone into foreclosure) Swanson believes he can make the new hotel work - drawing on the constant need for high quality rooms near the University, three local hospitals, and new research facilities. Swanson hopes to make use of various tax credits, and his goal is to receive a gold certificate from the U S green Building Council as art of the LEED (Leadership in Energy Efficient Design) program. The building, may also be eligible for some Historic Preservation Tex credits.

The Preservation Association which continues to support the project, has long maintained the most energy efficient building (when considering issues of embedded energy and the energy needed for demolition and new construction) is an older building that continues in use or is reused.

Architect Gordon Wright built two other notable religious buildings in Syracuse. Both the downtown Gothic style Mizpah Tower, renowned for its exceptional and extravagant auditorium, and the former First Church of Christ Scientist are unoccupied and endangered. The First Church of Christ Scientist had been purchased by a local credit union to be developed as an Art Center, but this project has been difficult to sustain, and the former church is now again up for sale.

Conference: Association for Canadian Jewish Studies

Conference: Association for Canadian Jewish Studies

(ISJM) The annual conference of the Association for Canadian Jewish Studies will be held this week in Ottawa, from May 24th to 26th. The preliminary program is available online here.

Two ISJM members will be giving papers of interest on Tuesday May 26th. Barbara Weiser, an independent researcher from Montreal who has been indefatigably documenting art in Canadian synagogues will speak on “The Narratives In the Stained Glass Windows at the Sephardic Kehillah Centre (Abir Yacov Congregation),” The new, lavish and monumental Spanish-inspired Centre is located on Steeles Ave. on Bathurst St. in Thornhill, within greater metropolitan Toronto. Click here for a virtual view of the facilities and sanctuary.

Dr. Barry Stiefel of the College of Charleston, who has recently joined the Board of ISJM, will speak on “Three New World Synagogues: Preserved Symbols of Toleration, Pride and Continuity.” His talk will compare historic preservation efforts of synagogues in the United States and Canada. Barry received his Ph.D. from Tulane University in 2008. His dissertation about the forty plus synagogues erected by the Spanish-Portuguese-Dutch-English-American Jewish communities of the Atlantic basin from the 17th through 19th centuries will be published as Jewish Sanctuary in the Atlantic World: A Social and Architectural History by the University of South Carolina Press.

Obama's Chicago Jewish Neighborhood

Obama's Chicago Jewish Neighborhood
by Samuel D. Gruber

On election day I wrote about presidents and synagogues, but at the time I didn't realize that then candidate and now president-elect lives in a former Jewish Day School, and lives immediately across the street from one of my favorite synagogues, Temple Isaiah - K.A.M. in Chicago, the quintessential Byzantine Revival synagogue designed by Chicago Jewish architect Alfred Alschuler in 1924. I featured this synagogue in my 2003 book (American Synagogues: A Century of Architecture and Jewish Community), but I never realized when I stood facing and photographing the facade that I had my back to the Obama home. I'm thinking that since the synagogue has a chimney disguised as a minaret, maybe that's where the story of Barack being a Muslim started. But its not the Muslim call to prayer one hears on Greenwood Ave., and certainly now not "Barack Who?," but rather the Baruch hu.

Charles B. Bernstein and Stuart L. Cohen have researched the history of the Hyde Park house which could become the Chicago White House (unless they sell when they move to DC, as many speculate they will), and presented their findings in the Chicago Jewish News. They write that " Indeed, the title history of the Obama house shows it has a rich Jewish history, one that encompasses both of Chicago's rival communities, the Reform Hyde Park German Jews and the Orthodox West Side Russian Jews." The house was built around 1908, and was bought by the Hungary-born Max Goldstine, its first Jewish owner in 1919. By the 1940s, a small but active group of Orthodox Jews were living in Hyde Park in 1947 they established the Hebrew Theological College (a yeshiva) in the former Goldstine House. In the late 1940s, the house was also the home of the South Side Jewish Day School. When Hyde Park's Orthodox population dwindled, the Yeshiva sold the property to the Hyde Park Lutheran Church in 1954.

Click here for the full and highly detailed story

Another story ran in the Forward about the affect of the Obama election congregation KAM-Isaiah Israel, which has found itself in the middle of a high-security zone. Marissa Brostoff writes that the congregation seems to be taking it all in stride - they have long been familiar with the Obamas for many years. Most congregants find that the excitement of Obama's victory far outweigh the security hassles. The following account of Temple Isaiah is adapted from American Synagogues:

Temple Isaiah dedicated in 1924 was inspired by the 6th-century Byzantine churches of San Vitale in Ravenna and Hagia Sofia in Istanbul. The octagonal plan synagogue is topped by a low tile dome. According to the architect, “We have not designed a Byzantine building but have endeavored to produce in concrete, stone, brick and steel, the mental picture developed by the study of this style modified by its contemporary influences and co-ordinated with the proper spirit and functioning of modern Jewish synagogues.”

Alschuler maintained, in much the manner of Arnold Brunner, that his style was more truthful to early synagogue architecture than other forms. There is some basis for this claim, as there were synagogues throughout the Byzantine Empire. Alschuler wrote of how he incorporated motifs of “fragments form an ancient Hebrew Temple recently unearth in Palestine.”

Alschuler was somewhat disingenuous, however, as no known central plan synagogues like Temple Isaiah had ever been found. The inclusion of a tall thin minaret-like tower next to the main sanctuary to mask the facility’s tall chimney is a particularly unusual, albeit picturesque, addition. One critic, obviously unfamiliar with Jewish tradition, but full of love for the exotic, wrote:

"It is a beauty and a joy, surrounded by a spacious lawn, trees and a dwelling house environment. Its low, flat dome and horizontal lines are delightfully accentuated by the tall slender chimney, reminiscent of a minaret from which the faint, intoned voice of the musessin would complete the picture of beauty. It is one of those structures that we return to, always eager to get our feel of its beauty of form and color."

Others found the mosque analogy puzzling, and even offensive. But preoccupation with the mosque detracts from the real elegance Alschuler’s geometric solution – an octagonal space surmounted by a high dome supported on vaults that spring from eight massive free standing piers. There is a semicircular balcony included to increase seating in close proximity to the bimah and Ark. The supporting piers are close to the walls to keep the sanctuary space uncluttered. The dome was made of Guastavino tile, like that of Rodeph Shalom in Pittsburgh. The tile was both structural, but also covered wall areas to improve acoustics. The use of Guastavino tiles allows other attractive details, such as the sinuous stairs the twist up to the balcony from either side of the vestibule.

Overall, the building maintains two levels of decoration. The first derives solely from the careful mix of materials and combination of soft earthy colors in the tile and brick. The seconds is an extensive overlay of explicit Jewish symbols, which crescendo as one progresses through the building. The stylized Decalogue is set over the main entrance, and a more traditional Decalogue sits within the arch above the Ark, designed as a large Syrian arch – a motif known from Byzantine Palestine. In the ornate vestibule there are Emblems of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The Star of David of prominently depicted in inlaid brick in each of the four great pendentives of the interior vault and in a large roundel at the apex of the dome. The six-pointed star also stands out in a roundel at the apex of the architectural composition of the Ark wall. Stars are embedded throughout the building, including on the impost blocks set above ornate capitals in the Byzantine manner. Large freestanding menorahs flank the Ark.

Perhaps the most remarkable decorative element in Temple Isaiah is not architectural. It is a large figurative stained glass window representing Moses. This tall image of the Prophet holding the tablets of the law is set in the balcony level, and is not easily visible form the sanctuary below. The depiction of figures, even of Moses, was still unusual in synagogue art, but by the 1920s not entirely uncommon in Reform Temple.

For those visitors to the Chicago’s south Side who cannot pass the congregation KAM – Isaiah Israel security cordon, there are still other opportunities to visit historic and architectural distinctive synagogues. I’ll be writing about two of these soon – one designed by Dankmar Adler and the other by Alschuler. Both are now churches, and are well-maintained and welcoming to visitors.

Photos: Congregation KAM - Isaiah Israel, Samuel D. Gruber

France: Chagall window in French Cathedral broken by vandals

France: Chagall window in French Cathedral broken by vandals

(ISJM) Part of a stained glass window designed by Marc Chagall (1887-1985) in the cathedral of Metz, was damaged by vandals on August 13, 2008.

The French Ministry of Culture announced that a 24 by 16 inch (60-by-40-centimeter) hole was smashed into the lower left corner of one of Chagall's 1963 windows, which depicts Adam and Eve. The damage was apparently part of a robbery in which some items were stolen from the church. Shards of glass from the broken window were collected and authorities believe it can be repaired.

In all, there are 19 Chagall stained glass windows in the cathedral, created and installed between 1958 and 1968.

A law passed earlier this summer in France makes the intentional damage to a historic building or cultural treasure a crime subject to as much as seven years in prison and a €100,000 ($150,000) fine.

Chagall came to the art of stained glass late in life, but his colorful Biblical scenes became instantly popular among Jewish and Christian religious leaders and congregations. In the 1950s and 1960s he received many commissions for stained glass windows. His best known stained glass work, however, is probably his Tribes of Israel windows created in 1960-62 for the synagogue at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem (his only such synagogue commission). For a listing of other places around the world – mostly churches - with Chagall’s stained glass, click here.

Most of Chagall's stained glass imagery derives from the hundreds of drawings, etching, watercolors and paintings he did of Biblical scenes beginning in the 1930s, when he began work on etching for an illustrated Bible to be produced by famed Parisian artist dealer and publisher Ambroise Vollard (A large selection of these works can be viewed on line at the website of the Spaightwood Galleries of Upton Massachusetts). Chagall also donated a collection of work of biblical themes to the French nation, which form the core of the museum, Le Message Biblique de Marc Chagall to France in Nice.

Increasingly, in his later years, biblical imagery replaced the descriptive, fantastic, nostalgic, evocative and symbolic imagery that marked so much of Chagall’s great painting of the early decades of the 20^th century. Still, for Chagall his part life in Vitebsk and the images, stories, symbols and colors it evoked was not divorced from his Biblically-inspired works. On the occasion of the dedication of the Jerusalem windows, Chagall made these remarks:

How is it that the air and earth of Vitebsk, my birthplace, and of thousands of years of exile, find themselves mingled in the air and earth of Jerusalem.

How could I have thought that not only my hands with their colors would direct me in their work, but that the poor hands of my parents and of others and still others with their mute lips and their closed eyes, who gathered and whispered behind me, would direct me as if they also wished to take part in my life?

I feel too, as though the tragic and heroic resistance movements, in the ghettos, and your war here in this country, are blended in my flowers and beasts and my fiery colors. . . .

The more our age refuses to see the full face of the universe and restricts itself to the sight of a tiny fraction of its skin, the more anxious I become when I consider the universe in its eternal rhythm, and the more I wish to oppose the general current.

Do I speak this because with the advance of life, the outlines surrounding us becomes clearer and the horizon appears in a more tragic glow?

I feel as if colors and lines flow like tears from my eyes, though I do not weep. And do not think that I speak like this from weakness—on the contrary, as I advance in years the more certain I am of what I want, and the more certain I am of what I say.

I know that the path of our life is eternal and short, and while still in my mother’s womb I learned to travel this path with love rather than with hate.

These thoughts occurred to me many years ago when I first stepped on biblical ground preparing to create etchings for the Bible [1931]. And they emboldened me to bring my modest gift to the Jewish people which always dreamed of biblical love, of friendship and peace among all peoples; to that people which lived here thousands of years ago, among other Semitic peoples.

My hope is that I hereby extend my hand to seekers of culture, to poets and to artists among the neighboring peoples. . . .

I saw the hills of Sodom and the Negev, out of whose defiles appear the shadows of our prophets in their yellowish garments, the color of dry bread. I heard their ancient words. . . . Have they not truly and justly shown in their words how to behave on this earth and by what ideal to live?

-- Marc Chagall, "Remarks at the dedication of the Jerusalem Windows" (1962)

Click here to access a complete catalogue raisonne of Chagall’s graphic work (access fee required).

Synagogues now Churches

NY Times Story and On-line Presentation Gives a Close-up to Former Synagogues now Needy Churches
by Samuel D. Gruber

Throughout the United States there are hundreds of former synagogues that are now churches. No one knows how many...I keep my own lists but they are woefully incomplete. In each city one can usually find an historian, preservationist or journalist who has a pretty good idea and in the right circumstances can help set up a tour, or at least provide a list of addresses.

But in New York City, and particularly in Brooklyn, this is hard work. Until this year nobody had reliable lists of even the extant synagogues, let alone the former ones, and no one that I know of had visited many of these buildings in recent years.

In 2007, the New York Landmarks Conservancy began a systematic survey of "historic" synagogues in New York - ones that might be eligible for preservation grants. This is part of a larger multi-year effort to survey all the religious buildings in New York City, something that has been talked about for years but only now with the Conservancy's work does it seem to be seriously underway. For synagogues, already the Conservancy team has visited scores of synagogues in Brooklyn and a much smaller number in Queens. I had the privilege to tag along as an "advisor" a bit last summer, and even in those short visits I was impressed by the quality of previously “undocumented” synagogues, and the richness of their decoration - and particularly the stained glass.

Even the Conservancy survey has not yet visited all the many former synagogues that are now churches - usually serving small independent Protestant congregations - especially Baptist - and increasing Pentecostal and other charismatic sects, as well as Jehovah's Witness congregations. And these buildings are often the ones that need the most care, because they are run independently, often without regular membership and funding, and because they were often bought by their new congregations when they were old and cheap, and maintenance and expensive repairs have often been deferred for years.

In thinking about the problems of these congregations, and the often seemingly irresolvable state of repair of their (often once-impressive) buildings, I re-read the excellent New York Times story by David Gonzalez that ran this past January 28th (2008). Gonzalez and photographer Ruth Fremson take the reader into two of these congregations - the well-maintained Linden Church of Seventh-day Adventists in Queens (formerly Laurelton Jewish Center) and the large and dilapidated St Timothy Holy Church in Brownsville, Brooklyn (formerly the Amboy Street Shul), and present their difficult situations in a broader context.

Since - when the New York Times is concerned - I'm still a print guy, I did not notice that the author and photographer had posted an audio-visual presentation on-line that presents even more - especially visually - of the story. Ms. Fremson's photos are especially noteworthy and should be more widely seen.

Below is a link to the story. Click the modest link to the audio-visual presentation under the second photo. Watch the slides at full screen for best effect. My compliments to Mr. Gonzalez and to Ms. Fremson. We need more main-stream media stories about the plight of our religious buildings. Whether we are religious or not, we must recognize that these buildings carry much of our history and art, and importantly stand as architectural landmarks - centers of gravity, if you will - in countless urban neighborhoods across America. We must first document these buildings, and then where possible, assist to protect them a preserve them for present and future use.

(More on how we can do this in future posts)

Once a Synagogue, Now a Church, and Ailing Quitely
By DAVID GONZALEZ
New York Times, Published: January 28, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/28/nyregion/28citywide.html?pagewanted=1&sq=jewell%20cunningham&st=nyt&scp

For more on the Sacred Sites Program of the New York Landmarks Conservancy see:
http://tools.isovera.com/organizations.php3?orgid=79&typeID=643&action=printContentItem&itemID=5040