Every week, the late rabbi, author, and philosopher Baron Jonathan Sacks (1948–2020) inspired Jews around the world in his “Covenant & Conversation” Torah commentaries.
Sacks knew that faith and beauty walk hand in hand. On the Times of Israel website, he wrote:
Intentional Beauty
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston explores the beauty and exquisite craftsmanship of Judaica (Jewish art and objects) in the home and the synagogue, in its “Intentional Beauty: Jewish Ritual Art From the Collection” exhibition.The 27 exhibits on display from in and around Boston include textiles, furniture, paintings, metalworks, and works on paper. Jews may recognize the age-old religious motifs used throughout the works, although the style of each piece differs depending on the craftsman’s nationality.
Among the notable works are a rare 18th-century Torah shield, a late 19th-century Indian Haggadah, and a recently conserved 20th-century holy ark from a synagogue that closed in 1999.
“While several of the Jewish communities represented in the gallery no longer survive, these objects are tangible testimony of their history. They tell stories of exile, discrimination, even persecution—but also of resilience, reinvention, and integration,” said exhibition curator Simona Di Nepi in the press release. Di Nepi is the museum’s Charles and Lynn Schusterman curator of Judaica.
The exhibition objects come from Jewish communities in and around Boston, communities that grew from the late 19th century.
‘The Jerusalem of America’
Between 1890 and 1924, many Jewish immigrants settled north of Boston, across the Mystic River, in the city of Chelsea.According to the Massachusetts Civics Handbook website:
“By 1910 the number of Jews [in Chelsea] had grown to 11,225, nearly one third of the entire population of the city. In the 1930s there were about 20,000 Jewish residents in Chelsea out of a total population of almost 46,000. Given the area of the city, Chelsea may well have had the most Jewish residents per square mile of any city outside of New York City.” By World War I, Chelsea was known as “the Jerusalem of America.” The moniker held until 1948, when the Mystic River Bridge, now known as the Maurice J. Tobin Memorial Bridge, divided the area.
The Holy Ark
The “aron kodesh,” or holy ark, is a sacred synagogue cabinet that enshrines the Torah scrolls used in services. The ark is named after the “Holy of Holies,” the “Aron Haberit,” the Ark of the Covenant in the Tabernacle and the Temple.The synagogue’s congregation faces the ark, which is always placed so people look toward the holy city of Jerusalem, the site of the holy temple.
The congregation of Shaare Zion Synagogue gifted Katz’s ark to avid Judaica collector Rabbi David A. Whiman when the synagogue closed in 1999.
In 2023, Whiman gifted the holy ark to the museum. Now, it’s on display for the first time, alongside a short documentary video showing some of the jubilant congregation saving the historic work from the synagogue in 1999.
Katz made 24 arks for synagogues in the Boston area. Besides the museum’s work, five of these arks survive today in the Walnut Street Synagogue, Chelsea; the Iglesia de Dios Pentecostal Church, Chestnut Street, Chelsea; the Adams Street Synagogue in Newton; the Temple Salem Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Woodrow Avenue, Dorchester Center; and Chabad of the North Shore, Swampscott.
The museum’s holy ark represents a temple entrance, flanked by Corinthian columns. The Star of David, the symbol of Judaism, features throughout the piece of furniture. Two hands form the priestly blessing gesture (“birkat kohanim”) in the middle of the door. Lions of Judah flank the Tablets of Law, inscribed with an abbreviated version of the Ten Commandments in Hebrew. A crown with an eagle tops the ark.
According to The Jewish Museum in New York: “The iconography of the eagle and the traditional images of the Tablets of the Law and the hands opened in the priestly gesture were often featured in Eastern European arks from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, all of which were destroyed during World War II.”
The Torah Shield
An ornate metal plate known as a Torah shield or breastplate hangs from a chain in front of the Torah scroll. The shield’s decorative theme illustrates the passage that will be read, acting as a segue, readying the reader or congregation for higher contemplation.In 2021, the museum acquired a rare Torah shield by Russian silversmith Elimelekh Tzoref. (The Jewish surname “Tzoref” is the family name of goldsmiths or silversmiths, according to Sotheby’s.) Two uncommon elements make the shield exceptional: Tzoref signed it, and he decorated the back with a narrative scene. Silversmiths rarely signed Torah shields and almost never decorated the back.
The piece, likely made for private devotion, demonstrates Tzoref’s deft craftsmanship in an array of techniques. On the front of the shield, Tzoref created a pierced silver-gilt layer of scrollwork over a solid sheet of silver. The museum noted Tzoref’s exquisite work on the back of the shield: “The quality of the engraving is simply outstanding, far closer to copper plate printed engravings than to metalwork.”
On the front of the shield, Moses and Aaron flank the Tablets of Law, topped with a crown (symbolizing the Torah). Both figures are incorporated into columns. There’s a crouching lion under each figure’s feet and a basket overflowing with fruit atop each column.
The silver-gilt front consists of chased strapwork (a metalwork technique of hammering on the reverse to create low-relief designs). It’s full of realistic and fanciful flora and fauna, including birds, dragons, reptiles, and sea creatures. Six gold plaquettes of an ox, a deer, a bear, sheep, leopard, and an elephant with a howdah (a throne-like saddle) frame the central scene.
On the back of the shield, Tzoref engraved two scenes of Isaac into the silver. He set the central scene of the Blessing of Isaac in an elaborate rococo architectural frame, with the engraving mimicking curves carved into wood entwined with floral scrolls. He engraved The Binding of Isaac at the top of the frame, and a Levite washing the hands of Cohen, at the base of the frame. Two lion heads hold the Torah shield chain in their jaws.
‘The Talmudist’
In his painting “The Talmudist,” Boston-based American painter Jacob Binder (1887–1984) depicted a devout Jew poring over the Talmud, the primary text of Rabbinic Judaism.Every element that Russian-born Binder painted conveys the man’s piety. He’s deep in concentration, resting a hand on his slightly furrowed brow. He wears a “tallit” (a prayer shawl, similar to some of the exhibits on display). In the background, leather-bound Talmud volumes line a bookshelf.
Binder chose a palette of rich browns and black for the work, similar to the paintings of John Singer Sargent (1856–1925), with whom Binder had studied.
Sargent’s mural cycle, the “Triumph of Religion” (1890–1919), in the Boston Public Library caused a public outcry in the Jewish community. They saw his “Synagogue” painting of a hunched-over and blindfolded woman as an insult to Judaism.
In response, Alexander Brin, who was the editor of The Jewish Advocate, raised community funds to buy “The Talmudist” for the museum. He felt it important for the museum to include “the most typical presentation that a dignified, self-respecting artistic Jewry could make.” Binder’s painting, therefore, serves as a testimony to the Boston Jewish community’s intent to protect its faith.
In 1925, the community gifted “The Talmudist” to the museum. One hundred years later, it’s now displayed in the museum for the first time.
Together, these exhibits shine a light on Judaica and its divine purpose. In rabbi Sacks’s words: “Art in Judaism always has a spiritual purpose: to make us aware of the universe as a work of art, testifying to the supreme Artist, God Himself.”
