Completed in partial fulfillment of the requirements for ordination in June 2010. Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion
Jewish liturgy is a portal into history and thought, each prayer containing layers of theology and meaning. On the doors of the Ark I have portrayed some of those layers in relation to the morning prayer Yotzer Or, to “the One who fashions light.” The prayer opens with a quote from Isaiah 45:7, which the Rabbis have altered slightly. Though they agreed with Isaiah’s author that belief in one God necessitates a theology maintaining that trouble and difficulty have their source in God - they chose to euphemize that in prayer. God should not be reminded to cause us more difficulties. The images in the Ark are a meditation on light and darkness, anguish and joy, religion and science as reflected and refracted by the prayer Yotzer Or.