Prayer shawls made from tyvek. Menorahs made from wire. The wonders of blessing and song. The Jewish Theological Seminary and The Jewish Museum have collaborated on a special day of hands-on Judaica-making, music, and conversation. A Day of Reinventing Ritual is this coming Sunday, November 15, from 9:30 am to 4pm. For more information and tickets, please visit the JTS website. Everyone is welcome, and children over the age of 7 are free.
Artists from Reinventing Ritual, including Rachel Kanter, Allan Wexler, Studio Armadillo, Tobi Kahn, and LoVid will lead hands-on workshops for the creation of new ritual objects. Scholar David Kraemer and Canter Sharon Brown-Levy will also lead workshops introducing the methods of blessings and chant. Vocalist Galeet Dardashti will perform excerpts from her ongoing reinterpretation of Jewish and Persian musical traditions. Anthropologist Vanessa Ochs will close the day offering insights into the dynamical influences of art and ritual today. The goal of the collaboration is to transmit the specialized and specific knowledge and skills of a diverse group of artists and scholars to the broader community, where the process of reinventing ritual truly lives and breathes.
I’m especially pleased that Studio Armadillo will be making the journey from Israel to lead a workshop on DIY kippa-making. Their sculpture in Reinventing Ritual, “Hevruta—Mituta” is a wonderful reinterpretation of the ritual of Jewish study. The artists compare a chess match to hevruta, pairs or small groups that debate the Torah and rabbinical responses to elicit deeper engagement with evidence and arguments. The thirty-two skullcaps, crocheted by girls during lessons in religious school, become playful emblems of women’s increasing access to traditional Orthodox education and ritual. A second example of this piece will be on view in a forthcoming exhibition of contemporary Israeli design in Judaica, opening at Beit Hatfutsot, Tel Aviv, in December. The artists combine 21st century 3D printing technology and ancient weaving traditions in a truly innovative work.
