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Left: This silver Havdalah set
is the work of internationally
known sculptor Ludwig
Wolpert, a pioneer in
contemporary Jewish ritual an

Ev

Cleveland
Jewish art
exhibit has
Detroit
connection.

Buy
one • dinner
entrée at
regular price,
get the
second for

1/2
OFF

Cleveland sculptor
David E. Davis created
this abstract, asymmetric
sukkah in wood.

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'i= 4 4.41401414*** . *
;

A twelve-sided box of wood,
hinged and lined with
velvet, this "tik" is a case
created to house a Torah
scroll according to the
customs of Jews from North
Africa and the Orient.

Equal or lesser value.

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4 p.m. - 9 p.m. only.

:4! --

Southfield location only.

29244 Northwestern Highway

(248) 351-2925

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FRAN HELLER

Special to the Jewish News

magnificent 20th-century
copper and wood Aron
Hakodesh (Holy Ark) from
early 20th-century Palestine is
studded with fruits, flowers and a "tree
of life" design. An equally imposing 12-
sided Persian tik, or Torah scroll holder,
of wood and ivory inlay fuses Oriental
and North African motifs. Nine clay
lamps resembling tiny shoes from the
seventh century find new usage as a
chanukiah (Chanukah lamp) in the 21st
century.
These are but three of more than 200
rare and sacred objects comprising "For
Everything A Season: Jewish Ritual Art
in Cleveland," on exhibit at the
Cleveland State University Art Gallery
through Nov. 4.

Fran Heller is a Cleveland-based

freelance writer.

10/13
2000

92

372 Oullette Avenue • Windsor, Canada

Collated from 50 public and private
collections in Cleveland, this wealth of
Judaica, both ancient and modern, is
ample testimony to the time-honored
celebration of Jewish observances and
traditions through the visual arts.
Dr. Joseph Gutmann, professor emeri-
tus of art history at Detroit's Wayne
State University, notes in the exhibit's
catalogue that collecting and displaying
Jewish ceremonial art was all but
unknown until the 19th century. Such
objects up to that time were used in the
lifecycle and holiday ceremonies per-
formed in the home and synagogue.
Little wonder that this user-friendly
exhibit, co-curated by associate dean and
professor of art in Cleveland State's col-
lege of arts and sciences Dr. John Hunter
and independent curator Claudia Z.
Fechter, is structured around the syna-
gogue, the home, Jewish holidays and
lifecycle events. Ample wall text serves
both Jewish and non-Jewish audiences,
the scholar as well as the layperson.

The winding gallery reveals its treasures
like the unraveling of a scroll. The section
titled "Synagogue" includes an array of
finely wrought silver Torah crowns,
shields and rimmonim, or Torah finials.
A beautiful pink challah cover with
Hebrew lettering from Germany and a
set of contemporary stainless steel silver
candlesticks by Ludwig Wolpert usher in
the "Sabbath" section, a three-part dis-
play. Kiddush cups from Eastern
Europe, Ethiopia, Argentina and India
and a charming array of unusually
shaped Havdalah spice boxes, including a
rooster, a fish and a harp, are highlights.
The most important objects in the
exhibit in Dr. Gutmann's opinion are the
contemporary pieces. Gutmann cites the
work of German-born Israeli and
American sculptor Ludwig Wolpert, who
was Gutmann's personal friend. Wolpert,
who studied at the Bauhaus, and had a
studio in the basement of New York's
Jewish Museum, became a pioneer in the
forging of contemporary ceremonial art.

