Rabbi Deborah Wechsler
The Walls are Talking
If you have been in the Schechter lobby recently you might have heard the walls talking. For the past weeks parents, students, alumni, faculty and community members have been painting murals on the walls in honor of Krieger Schechter’s 30th anniversary. I’ve been keeping “paint clothes” in my office so that I can come and paint when my schedule allows. What an amazing energy pervades the lobby and hallways! There seem to always be volunteers happily splattered with paint and taking direction from our talented artist in residence Jay Wolf Schlossberg-Cohen.
What I love about the initiative and experience is how truly communal it is. I painted next to some current Middle School students, upstairs from a former 8th grade Talmud student of mine, together with Mrs. Gottleib (check out our hallah on the second floor), sharing paint with a Lower School parent. Every day I stop by to see the progress and of the murals and see how the school is being transformed.
A great rabbi used to teach that a Jewish home should have a tzedakah box not just residing in the home, but that it should be affixed to the walls of the house so that the value of tzedakah becomes an intrinsic part of the house itself. I think the same can now be said of the walls of our Krieger Schechter Day School – that with the addition of these amazing murals the very walls of our school proclaim our values and the kind of education that our children receive. The value based education has always been intrinsic to KSDS but now we’ve made it part of the physical makeup of our synagogue and school home so our walls can do the talking for us.
I’ve been so inspired by the project that I’m thinking about doing the same to a wall in my house. Talking with my kids about our values and how we live them, and then painting the images on a wall of our home. But I’m a little afraid of the precedent I’d be setting by letting them draw on the walls!
Posted in: Day to Day Life, Art & Culture, Our Children
2 Comments
Dick Manekin
Ditto with the thank you Rabbi Wechsler. I, too, experienced the energy of the painting experience through not only my eyes and heart, but that of two African-American students of Jay who were painting next to me. Jay was explaining the meaning of symbols and letters and educating them on the American Jewish history. What an amazing way to take a break between my business day and the business of the shul.
Janine Frier
Rabbi Wechsler Thank you for so eloquently capturing the feeling surrounding the mural process that is currently underway at Schechter. This is exactly what we were hoping for... that sense of a community coming together to express its values in a creative and vibrant way. The process is as important, if not more important than the result. Although, the result that we will have for many years to come as a reminder and marker of this 30th year, is certainly fabulous. And don't be afraid of your kids drawing on the walls. They will understand that it is a special thing and it will be something that they will remember forever.