Orchard Street Shul Project

The historic building that is Orchard Street Shul has personal meaning for me.  As a young girl attending services, I often sat with my Bubbe in the balcony and felt important to have such a prestigious view.  At times I would wander downstairs to sit with my Zeide or stand near the central bimah while the Torah was read.  Surrounded by generations of ancestors linked together as we recited prayers or studied commentaries on prayers and traditions, I listened to the multiple voices rising up and blending together. 

The Talmud is the basic compendium of Jewish law and thought.  It inquires into the meaning of words, analyzes why some words are physically close to each other in the Torah, and why some are repeated. It is an accumulation of commentaries to explain the Oral Law, multiple voices analyzing the tenets of our faith.

For this Shul project, I have chosen Talmud pages discussing Sukkot, the holiday called Feast of Tabernacles.  The Shul is a sheltering place of worship and the Sukkah also provides comfort and protection. 

Pages of the Babylonian Talmud are visually impressive.  Just as the Shul has a raised platform central bimah (an island) on which the Torah is read, each Talmud page contains an island of printed Hebrew text in the center surrounded by various commentaries, multiple voices relating to one central topic.

In my interpretation, digital images of the Shul merge with Talmud pages.  Multiple images represent many voices of congregants and of Talmud scholars.  I hear these voices when I enter the structure that is the Shul or the structure that is the Talmud.  The voices merge and define one basic identity.