Open House NY 2014- Part 2

After visiting Central Synagogue, we hopped on the subway to 29th street to the church known as “The Little Church Around the Corner”.

We had a wonderful tour guide. One of the fascinating things about churches is that the buildings themselves can deliver a strong theological message--not just a general religious one but one that is particularly denominational.

I know that my usual topic is Jewish ritual art, so if you do not want to read about theological splits in the Protestant church then just skip this post.

I grew up not far from the spot of land where the Pilgrims first set foot on this continent. The Puritans were essentially interested in creating a further reformation of the Anglican church.They saw the lushness of the churches and the vestments and even the church service to be on the slippery slope to what they saw as the great evil, Catholicism.

The Puritan desire to seek the divine through the austere expressed itself architecturally. Their churches are exercises in restraint , the walls are white, windows are clear, decorations are few.

The Church of the Transfiguration on 29th street, also known as “ The Little Church Around the Corner” is a reaction against Puritan and Congregational sensibilities. The first rector of the church wanted to reclaim the Anglican lushness that the Puritans rejected. So he brought back stained glass windows, statues, gilding and even incense ( How Popish!!) to his church.

Visually, it’s a party. Here’s the floor.

Our tour guide described the building as growing like a cucumber vine. old and new elements mingle comfortably with one another.

Yes, both the use of pattern and of color are similar to the slightly later central synagogue

The ceiling timbers were simply amazing.I could have looked at them all day.

I loved that the ribbons painted on the columns were done freehand. I love the bit of wobble. it’s always nice to see evidence of a real human hand at work.

The church had a display of some of the vestments. I am a member of a sewing discussion group on the internet. Several of my friends on that list make liturgical garments . I made sure to take lots of photos for them.

The shoulder piece here is a brocade that has been pumped up with applique and embroidery.

Couched gold cord always looks spectacular. it’s not all that difficult to do and packs a whallop of a punch visually.

This church is famous for it’s connection to the theatre community. I would not be surprised if these vestments were produced in a costume shop.

Here are some other random bits of beautiful decorative bits from the church.

This is a 1933 window designed to celebrate world religions. The swastika is to symbolize Buddhism.

Our tour was followed by a concert of show tunes given by actors who are church members. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

Connecting with the past

A few months ago I had a craving for my father’s chicken fricassee. If my father were still alive I would have called him up and he would have talked me through the process of making it. My father is no longer alive so I turned to my cookbooks and the recipes I found for chicken fricassee were nothing at all like the stew of chicken necks, gizzards and wings in a watery sweet and sour tomato sauce that I enjoyed as a kid. I assumed that the dish was an invention of my father’s. I then attempted to replicate the dish from my memory of it and failed. A couple of weeks ago I saw an article on the internet, and I can’t remember where, that talked about Jewish fricassee and it sounded an awful lot like the dish I was hankering after. This afternoon I went to the butcher and picked up all of the chicken elements of the dish, a couple of packages each of wings, necks and gizzards. My father never cooked directly from a cook book. He used to re...

The light themed tallit has been shipped!!!

I had begun speaking to Sarah about making her a tallit in the middle of August. It took a few weeks to nail down the design. For Sarah it would have been ideal if the tallit were completed in time for her to wear it on Rosh HaShanah., the beginning of her year as senior rabbi of her congregation. For me, in an ideal world, given the realities of preparing for the High Holidays I would have finished this tallit in the weeks after Sukkot. So we compromised and I shipped off the tallit last night. I would have prefered to have more time but I got the job done in time. This tallit was made to mark Sarah's rise to the position of senior rabbi but it was also a reaction to this year of darkness. She chose a selection of verses about light to be part of her tallit. 1) אֵל נוֹרָא עֲלִילָה God of awesome deeds ( from a yom kippur Liturgical poem) 2) אוֹר חָדָשׁ עַל־צִיּוֹן תָּאִיר May You shine a new light on Zion ( from the liturgy) 3) יָאֵר יְהֹ...

A Passover loss

My parents bought this tablecloth during their 1955 visit to Israel. It is made out of linen from the first post 1948 flax harvest. The linen is heavy and almost crude. The embroidery is very fine. We used this cloth every Passover until the center wore thin. You can see the cloth on the table in the background of this photo of my parents and nephew My Aunt Sheva bought my mother a replacement cloth. The replacement cloth is made out of a cotton poly blend. The embroidery is crude and the colors not nearly as nice. The old cloth hung in our basement. We used the new cloth and remembered the much nicer original cloth. I loved that my aunt wanted to replace the cloth, I just hated the replacement because it was so much less than while evoking the beauty of the original. After my father died my mother sat me down and with great ceremony gave me all of her best tablecloths. She also gave me the worn Passover cloth and suggested that I could mend it. I did. Year after year ...

sarah in nyc

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