Snippets — jewish art
A shelter of peace.
hashkiveinu hebrica jewish art jewish artist jewish papercut art judaica kim phillips
Peace: a central theme in Jewish life, precious and elusive. We say "Shalom!" in greeting and, in Israel at least, "Shalom shalom!" ~ double peace ~ in parting. I created this piece, Sukkat Shalom, at a scary time for Jews in Israel. At this moment, rockets are raining down on them, forcing them to run for shelters. Read more...
The trees of life.
etz chayim hebrica jewish art jewish papercut art judaica kim phillips plant a tree in israel tree of life trees in the torah
One of my favorite bits of Torah is where it talks about how to treat trees during a war: "When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by wielding an axe against them; for thou mayest eat of them, but thou shalt not cut them down." Read more...
Connecting to Judaism through Art - Jewish Papercut Workshops
creative haggadah creative haggadot hebrew name papercut hebrica jewish art jewish art workshop jewish artist jewish artist in residence jewish blessings jewish greeting cards jewish papercut art jewish ritual item jewishpapercut art kim phillips midrash mizrach psalms
Kim Phillips, artist at Hebrica Judaic Art, offers workshops in Jewish papercut art for synagogues, religious schools, Jewish day schools, and Jewish federation progams. Whether you'd want a 3-hour workshop, an elective mini-course, or weekend artist-in-residence program, a curriculum can be tailored to your needs. More on that here.
Hiddur Mitzvah - Doing a commandment beautifully.
hebrica hiddur mitzvah jewish art jewish ritual item jewishpapercut art judaica keeping the sabbath kiddush cup mizrach
While we often hear the word “mitzvah” used to mean a “good deed,” it really means “commandment” and there are 613 of those in the Torah. One of the Big Ten is “keep the Sabbath,” and we do that by sanctifying the time and setting aside our normal work. We get out the fancy kiddush cup and candlesticks, set a pretty table, and serve up special foods. Would it be the Sabbath if we had frozen fish sticks on a paper plate, with wine in plastic cups? Yes, but we could do the commandment more fully by making it beautiful—hiddur...
In the image.
betzelim elohim hebrica in the image of god jewish art jewish papercut art kim phillips midrash mizrach no graven images shiviti
The traditional Jewish notion of not making images comes from Exodus 20:4: "...you shall not make for yourself a sculptured image, or any likeness of what is in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth." After all, the Israelites had, just shortly before the Ten Commandments were handed down, made themselves a golden calf to worship and couldn't be trusted not to try it again. Certainly, through the ages, Jews regularly broke this commandment. There were even coins with various rabbis' faces on them! There were also work-arounds like micrography, making pictures...