Your Email:

Friend's Email:

Note: (optional)

Subject:

Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/12796/full/12796/making-beautiful-art-can-be-a-fun-mitzvah-kids-parents-learn/ <br /><br /> <b>Making beautiful art can be a fun mitzvah, kids, parents learn</b> <br /> Friday, March 17, 2000 | by <p>JOAN GROSS </p> <br /><br /><p>On the tables were Lucite rectangles to be used as bases, along with boxes of construction paper and shiny foil paper, feathers, markers, crayons and special fancy scissors.<br /><br /> The goal was to make mezuzah art pieces.<br /><br /> Mindy Sitzer of Palo Alto brought her two children, Benjamin, 3, and Mollie, 7.<br /><br /> "We like to fill our lives as much as we can with Judaica," she said.<br /><br /> Mollie, who drew a rainbow on her Lucite piece, said, "It's called the gift of freedom. I'm going to put it next to my door."<br /><br /> Bay Area artist Nancy Katz led the workshop, held Feb. 27 at the Albert L. Schultz Jewish Community Center in Palo Alto.<br /><br /> "I like people to experiment and explore with materials. They should have total freedom in creating what they do. I don't provide examples," she said.<br /><br /> "Judaism and Jewish ritual objects should be accessible to everyone. These are real people making art projects that are attractive to use in their homes."<br /><br /> In addition to fulfilling the commandment of placing a mezuzah on their doorposts containing the words of Deuteronomy, participants got a hands-on lesson in another aspect of Judaism—hiddur mitzvah, the act of beautifying as mitzvah. The workshop was co-sponsored by the ALSJCC and its family life educational program.<br /><br /> Steven Levin of Cupertino came with his family.<br /><br /> "We recently bought a new house and want to inaugurate it as a home," he said. "Nancy can help us make a house into a home with spirituality and creativity. Having made a silk tallis in her studio, I found Nancy to be warm, supportive and a skillful guide in bringing out my creativity."<br /><br /> Wayne and Karen Kennan of Palo Alto attended with 9-year-old twins Emily and Hallie. They examined the Hebrew letters that the girls would use on their art pieces. "It's a nice way for a family to do something together on a rainy day and not be couch potatoes," Wayne Kennan said.<br /><br /> His wife agreed. "We like doing art projects as a family activity. We are not just doing art, but learning also about the significance of the mezuzah."<br /><br /> Katz, who has been teaching art in Jewish camp settings since 1982, says she has witnessed a renaissance of Jewish spirituality. Contemporary ritual objects, she said, play an important role in the enhancement and celebration of modern Jewish life.<br /><br /> She has facilitated the creation of Torah covers, ark curtains, and group tallitot with Jewish youth in camp and classroom settings, as well as with synagogue family groups at weekend programs and congregational retreats.<br /><br /> Judy Podolsky, director of the ALSJCC's family life education program, had attended an educators workshop with Katz in Seattle. "I decided to have her come to our community at the same time her exhibit is in our art gallery."<br /><br /> Katz' work, seen in the Koret Gallery at the ALSJCC, includes vibrantly colored hand-painted silk scarves, tallitot and umbrellas, as well as a painted silk wall-hanging and an Israel anniversary quilt.<br /><br /> Her artwork is in galleries, synagogues and private collections throughout the United States and Israel, as well as the Judah L. Magnes Museum in Berkeley and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.<br /><br /> "I believe that the relationship between creativity and spirituality is like that of the two wicks of a havdallah candle," Katz said. "They are intimately entwined, and once lit they are impossible to differentiate as separate lights."</p> <p> </p>

Please enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below: