Judaica

Among the many different things Tatiana has done in her life as an artist in Israel was some work in the field of Judaica.

Judaica may be called the Jewish "applied art", because usually the target is not the art, but the application thereof. Naturally, there was application of art in any and every religion and culture, not just Judaism. However, usually, the art was also directed in the pure art, for the glory of God, for beauty - such as paintings and sculpture, or for personal decoration. Judaism did not allow paintings and sculpture in general, but that did not mean there were no artists. Therefore the artists had to divert and express their talent in other ways, still acceptable for the culture.

Judaica is the things used in Judaism for ritual and culture: metal workers make beautiful candle holders; Hannukiot (Hannukah candle holder); Menoras; kidush (wine blessing) goblets; cups for washing hands; tops of Torah scrolls; finger-pointer for reading the scripture; Passover platters; etc., mostly silver, but sometimes from other metals as well. The porcelain artists make certain items for kosher eating; Passover platters; Mazzah plates; Khalah (Sabbath bread) platters and other necessary items. Then there are documents richly decorated with ornaments, such as Ketubah (the marriage document); scripture; Psalms; Passover Hagadah (tale); the books of Esther or Ruth etc. Later there was the work of glass and stained-glass windows, for synagogues, the making of lanterns and furniture for the same, some architecture. Synagogues were never glorious or richly decorated, for many reasons, one of which was instability of life, but another, no less important, was the prohibition on certain forms of art and the reluctance to experiment in that field for fear of overstepping the thin boundary. Good workmanship and simplicity was usually more than enough, in stark contrast to the wealth of art

Tatiana has taken part in decorating a number of various Judaica documents. Sadly, the only origin for the pictures is photos she has taken of these works before giving them to the ordering party. These are not good quality, but all that I have. Still, I would like to give you a glimpse of Tatiana's versatility in the fields of her work, so I have done all I can to make them as presentable as possible.

Any additions to this page shall be announced in the What's New page and the Newsletter (see Archive).

Judaica Documents