“They whisper names to me, I am a channel”
“They whisper names to me, I am a channel”
This menorah is placed in a kitchen window, a specific reference to my own kitchen window looking toward San Francisco, and the “Kitchen” community organized by Rabbi Noa Kushner. The materials for the window frame and window are all recycled tin cans, mundane food containers elevated within a message about transformation. The sky, mountain silhouette and image of Sutro Tower are also recycled tin cans. The menorah is brass.
Looking through the window we see Sutro Tower, a San Francisco landmark, reaching into the sky, towering above the city, communicating invisibly with the world. In her interview, Rabbi Kushner shares that as she carries the Torah through the congregation, “they whisper the names to me” and her perception that “I’m not big enough to hold all those names, but I feel here I am a direct channel to God”.
These images show the Menorah close-up. The Menorah itself is solid brass with candle cups cast from a 19th-century Menorah. Casting the candlecups from a 19th-century Menorah is a connection to tradition. The brass Menorah can easily be removed for cleaning and polishing.
The Shamash is fixed on the left side of the frame to prevent it from being lost or stolen.
Photo Credit for these images: Philip Cohen
Dimensions: 21.75” H x 23” W x 3.5” D
This Menorah was committed to a traveling exhibition in the United States until 2024. This exhibition was about women in religious leadership in Judaism, but this is an issue that resonates with all religions in the world today. As women fight to claim a role in all aspects of modern living, it seems that the participation of women in religious leadership in Orthodox Judaism, Catholicism, Islamic and Muslim faiths remains a hurdle.
For inspiration, the artists were given a recorded video interview and transcript of a woman Rabbi. The person selected for me was Rabbi Noa Kushner in San Francisco. Because of the pandemic, I never met her but used the recorded interview as the basis for this work. Two segments from the transcript are shown below.
“… now that I’ve been with people in a variety of circumstances, I feel, um, to be a channel in this way, and to try to connect to people in some of their most vulnerable moments, and the political situation, to try and bring something holy to the world, it’s almost a job that’s impossible to do.“
Video Interview transcript [00001 00:06:50]
“But at yisker, everyone is grieving, and, of course, it’s the very low point of the day, everyone is really starving at this point. And now everyone stands, and now they don’t announce the whole name to the cahal, to the whole community, I just walk around, and one at a time they whisper the names to me.”
Video Interview transcript [00002 00:00:35]
If you are interested in looking at some of the steps in the fabrication of this piece, click here.
Perhaps, the visual images of the fabrication will help people understand what I am doing. Most people have no idea about what I do, or how I fabricate my work. This is especially true since I work with unusual materials, post-consumer plastic waste, and recycled tin cans in a very unorthodox way.
This artwork has been traveling the United States for three years in an exhibition titled “Holy Sparks.” The premise of the exhibition is women in Jewish religious leadership.
Upcoming venue shown below is opening October 24, 2024. I will be there! Come and say “hello.”
Hillel at UCLA
574 Hilgard Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Dates for the exhibition: October 24- December 13, 2024
“They whisper names to me, I am a channel” is featured in Modern Judaica*, by Jim Cohen.
*This is an affiliate link provided for your convenience.