... To Light
In the fall of 2017, my husband Marty and I joined a group of congregants from Congregation Beth Or in Maple Glen PA on a fascinating 2 week pilgrimage to Poland and Israel. The trip was designed to trace our roots and gain a deeper understanding for our history as Jews.
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This collection of stained glass windows was inspired by that pilgrimage, both the deeply depressing images of concentration camps and uplifting images pointing us to a bright future. We continue... into the Light!
Negev Begonia
In the Negev desert, one of our side trips included a wonderful winery literally growing out of the desert. In addition to grape vines and a variety of fruit trees, the winery was bright with these colorful flowers. We learned that these beautiful flowers grow in the Negev year round. They are called begonia, but very different from the begonia that grow in our gardens. In the U.S. we would call them bougainvillea.
Miriam's Cup
13" x 13"
As we traveled through the Negev, our bus stopped near what looked like an outcropping of dried bushes. We got off the bus – in the middle of nowhere – and our guide led us to a set of stairs carved into the sandy rock behind the bushes, into a cistern. Carved out of the rock and desert sand, a cistern would have filled with water after the flooding rains. The two women represented in the panel sport beaded necklaces. Three additional three-dimensional women are hand knit of wire.
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Path to Peace
35" x 18"
Nativ Ha’asara is a settlement literally on the border with Gaza. There we met a local ceramic artist who shared some of her experiences living in the shadow of the conflict. She invited us to participate in her peace project, decorating the gray security barriers with colorful ceramic tiles. These imposing gray cement walls are within feet of the border fence with Gaza.
The Green Line
Standing on the edge of Jerusalem, our guide explained how the borders were created in 1948. A line was drawn on the map with a green marker to designate the border between Israel and Jordan. As you stand at that border, the line is very evident today with the plush green environment on the Israeli side and the dry brown desert on the Jordanian side of the border.
