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Mosaic Midrash exhibit curator Seraphina Ferraro
Courtesy of Seraphina Ferraro
“I love the idea of taking broken
objects, constructing them into
something beautiful. To me, that’s
the essence of life.”
RABBI GILA RUSKIN
Hirsch, who is a proponent for hosting
art at the synagogue space, thought
Ruskin’s works refl ected the syna-
gogue’s values of using art to augment
the aesthetics of the space and could
“inspire” those who walked through
the synagogue doors.

“Th e work of an artist is something
personal, but it’s also something that they
share with the community,” he said.

Ruskin was fi rst drawn to mosaics
because of her interest in creating pic-
ture frames and challah trays. When
she taught a class on Genesis and asked
her students to interpret two diff erent
images about the binding of Isaac, she
realized the power of art in conveying
various meanings to a narrative.

“Th at struck me in the moment that
visual art could be a midrash and
without words, they convey completely
diff erent conceptions of the same thing
or multiple conceptions,” Ruskin said.

Th ough once a rabbi at a Reform
congregation in Baltimore, Ruskin now
produces art out of her condominium.

Displaying her art at an Orthodox syn-
agogue was important to her, as it
allowed a new audience to give life to
her mosaic pieces.

“Having a Hebrew-literate and bib-
lically literate congregation to interact
with it, to really grapple with these
texts and these pieces of art, to me was
what I wanted,” Ruskin said. “I ran
aft er it; I pursued it.”
Th e exhibit at Mekor Habracha will
be open to guests weekdays from 8 a.m.

to 8 p.m. Some pieces will be available
to buy. JE
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