sarah in nyc

This plate has been in my life for as long as I can remember. The beautiful lettering spells my name in Hebrew I spiraling line emerges from the first letter of my name and becomes the spinning path of a dreidle.  I love the dynamic energy of the design. I also always admired her sure and beautiful handwriting.  It’s just gorgeous.   This plate was made for me. As a Chanukah gift  from my parent’s friend Rivka. as you can read on the back of the plate it was given to me in 1963. I was two. My sisters each got their own plate with their own names  cleverly incorporated into a Chanukah design. I remember eating latkes from these plates when I was very, very little.   Rivka and her husband Shlomo  taught in the Hebrew School in Quincy from 1958 until I think 1964. My parents and Rivka and Shlomo were deeply fond of one another. While they lived in Quincy, Shlomo completed his BS degree and also got his engineering degree from MIT.   ...

I have been embellishing my work with these lovely meandering vines for quite a while now. I think I first began playing with the motif when I had to come up with something that looked vaguely Persian.  Drawing those tendrils is slightly addictive and very comforting. The motif has always felt very correct  on Jewish ritual objects and deeply Jewish in a way that I didn’t fully understand.   I finally made the connection today.   This is my kiddush cup. It’s Russian and was made in 1867.  My father inherited a similar one, slightly larger and with slightly more ornate floral motifs from his grandfather, David Joseph Jakubowits of Konin, Poland. My father’s cup was stamped 1848. Growing up, my father had his kiddush cup, my mother had one from her father. When my older sisters were little someone had given each of them a small  silver Israeli  stemmed goblet. We owned lots of kiddush cups, but none were specifically min...