Holy Sparks at the UCLA Hillel Los Angeles

jewishartsalon

1 year ago

Holy Sparks – 50 Years of Women in the Rabbinate opens Thursday, November 7th in Los Angeles. The exhibition first opened at the Heller Museum in NYC in 2022. It is now making its last stop in LA, after a national tour to six museums across the US.

Opening Reception/Viewing: Thursday, November 7 at 7-9 pm

Program: 8 pm

RSVP Required at uclahillel.org/dortortevents

Sunday, December 15, HUC will hold a special event at the “Holy Sparks” show. Details to follow.

UCLA Hillel, 574 Hilgard Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90024

Admission: Free

Hours: Mondays through Fridays, 10 am – 4 pm, until December 13, 2024.

Parking: Hourly parking available at UCLA parking lot #2 on the corner of Hilgard Avenue and Westholme Avenue

Information: (310) 208-3081

Holy Sparks pairs leading artists with 24 woman rabbis to illuminate the creativity, commitment, and vision of women who were “firsts” in their time. Their challenges and contributions, struggles and successes, represent the achievements of all women rabbis since June 3, 1972, when Rabbi Sally Priesand was ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion as the first woman rabbi in America.

Jewish Art Salon artists in the exhibit:

Heddy Abramowitz, Ellen Alt, Siona Benjamin, Dorit Jordan Dotan, Debbie Teicholz Guedalia, Judy Sirota Rosenthal, Joan Roth, Deborah Ugoretz, Yona Verwer and Ruth Weisberg.

On June 3, 1972, Jewish and American history were made when Rabbi Sally Priesand was ordained by HUC-JIR as the first female rabbi in North America. This set in motion the first steps toward the empowerment of new cohorts of leaders for the Jewish people.

Celebrating the groundbreaking impact of women in the rabbinate is the Holy Sparks art exhibition, organized by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion’s Heller Museum in New York and The Braid in Los Angeles. Holy Sparks opens at UCLA Hillel on November 7 (on view through December 13), as the last stop on its national tour.

This show spotlights the achievements of 24 women rabbis who were “firsts” in their time as depicted by 24 leading contemporary Jewish women artists who were inspired by The Braid’s Story Archive of Women Rabbis. The portraits range from representational to conceptual and include photography, textile, painting, mixed media, collage, drawing, and recycled materials.

Perla Karney, Artistic Director of the Dortort Center for Creativity in the Arts at UCLA Hillel, notes, “We are honored to present this exhibition about visionary women rabbis, whose creativity, resilience, and hope for the future will inspire the UCLA and larger community.”

Jean Bloch Rosensaft, Director of the Heller Museum, explains, “Holy Sparks captures the collective impact of female rabbis across the denominations and a broad spectrum of roles who have redefined Jewish leadership and transformed Jewish tradition, worship, spirituality, scholarship, education, social action, and pastoral care. Their courageous example continues to inspire the next generations of Jewish leaders that are so essential during these challenging times. Furthermore, the evocative art telling their stories demonstrates how contemporary women artists are advancing Jewish culture through the visual expression of Jewish history, values, and identity. We feel especially grateful that this exhibition is being presented at UCLA at this time. In the current climate fraught by war, trauma, and anxiety, its stories of courage, leadership, and resilience can strengthen Jewish students on campus and the larger LA community.”

Ronda Spinak, Founder and Artistic Director of The Braid and Co-Director of The Braid’s Story Archive of Women Rabbis says, “Since 2009, Lynne Himelstein and I and our team at The Braid have had the honor of interviewing nearly 200 trailblazing women rabbis from all denominations and across the globe, offering a front-row seat into one of the most transformational moments in Jewish history. Having already dramatized these stories in our landmark play, Stories from the Fringe, we wanted to bring these inspiring legacies to a new medium—the visual arts.”

Lynne Himelstein, Co-Chair of The Braid and Co-Director of The Braid’s Story Archive of Women Rabbis adds, “Each rabbi has such a unique voice and is deserving as a “first” in her own right, so it was challenging to winnow it down to just 24 of these incredible pioneers. Just as much thought had to go into pairing a rabbi with an artist. Combining artists The Braid had exhibited with HUC-JIR’s deep roster, we spent countless hours to find the natural connections between the artists’ styles, interests, personalities, geographies and the biographies of the selected rabbis.”

Holy Sparks features the inspiring careers of these rabbis and powerful portraits by artists (Jewish Art Salon artists in bold):

Ordination Rabbi Artist

Download the free Holy Sparks audio guide on the Heller Museum app at BloombergConnects.org

Read more in the exhibition catalog: https://huc.edu/wp-content/uploads/Holy-Spark-LIVE-R19.pdf