"Paper Tefillah" Opening Reception at Temple Israel on January 10

The image above is from Temple Israel's website; click here to see the mention in the Temple Israel Memphis Voice. I look forward to welcoming you at the opening reception on January 10, 2012. I'll be lecturing at 7:00 pm; refreshments will be served afterward.

Paper Tefillah series: "Barchu"

I shared this papercut with the Saturday morning minyan at Temple Ahavat Shalom this past Shabbat, and I'm pleased to share it with you here as well. (You can click the image to see it larger.)

This is my "Barchu," a papercut based on the Jewish call to worship. It's the first of the formal prayers of a contemporary Jewish service, the moment when we stop praying as as individuals and come together as a community. Our cross-talk, the silent reading of psalms, all of the business from outside vanish as the service leader calls out the first line, and the community responds with the second. This call-and-response is represented in the larger speech bubbles made up cut-up pieces of the prayer itself, showing how our private moments become part of a larger communal connection.

Here are two close-up details from the piece:

If you want to see it in person, you'll have to come to the opening at Temple Israel in Memphis on January 10.

Paper Tefillah series: "Ahavat Olam"

Here's a very little photo of the "Ahavat Olam" papercut that will be featured in my "paper tefillah" show this January in Memphis.

What?

You haven't heard about the show yet?

We've got our opening reception on Tuesday, January 10, 2012, at Temple Israel in Memphis. And it's going to be awesome, if I do say so myself. And I do. Sixteen papercuts representing the major prayers in contemporary American Jewish worship services.

Anyhow, in the "Ahavat Olam" prayer (which is part of the evening service) we thank God for the gift of Torah. I've represented this gift as the Etz Chaim (Tree of Life), in which the leaves are Hebrew letters and the background is made up entirely of cut-up Superman comics and pieces from prayerbooks and a chumash that had been destined for ritual burial in the genizah.

I don't have a larger image to share right now... I'll get one posted here eventually, but you should also consider coming to the show; all of the "paper tefillah" papercuts are 18" x 24" and look incredible in person.

Memphis 2012: Paper Tefillah

Memphis 2012: Paper Tefillah

Teaser from the cutting table: "One master of all the earth"

The speech bubble reads, "Soon there will be one God -- one master of all the earth!" Can you guess which prayer it represents?