The Beth Israel Mural Project goes beyond the synagogue’s parkade, with a website that features each artwork, as well as information about the holiday depicted, and more. (screenshot)
Windows into the synagogue, windows into Judaism. The Beth Israel Mural Project features 13 works of art, each based on a Jewish holiday. Adorning the shul’s parkade, they welcome visitors.
“During COVID, Sy Brown started the Good Times Club at the BI. The goal was to bring in new programming into the shul for the over-50 crowd,” explained project manager Reisa Schwartzman. “We have had blood drives, book clubs and walking clubs. I came up with the idea to do a mural in the garage.
“At first, the idea was to do one large mural. The challenge was that there are parking signs that could not be removed so it motivated us to think out of the box a bit. The smaller framed murals allowed it to have the effect of being windows into the shul.
“The next steps were to call out to the congregation to see who would like to participate. At this time, all meetings were held on Zoom due to COVID. Once the committee had the members, we then went out to the congregation – we wanted the entire membership to feel included, to see what they wanted to see in the garage. The overwhelming feedback was the holidays.”
Volunteers were assigned a holiday and the committee helped with each image. “This is when the real work began,” said Schwartzman. “But, up to this point between COVID and summer holidays, it was two years.
“With Peter Sarganis, an amazing artist himself but also an art teacher, he guided us on the steps required to take our wonderful images through the multiple steps to get each image on the boards. Once the boards were ready to go, we met each Sunday afternoon for painting for several months. There were committed painters who would come in during the week to work as well. This was a labour of love! The energy in the room when we were painting was fabulous. Focused artists and painters working together to bring these works to fruition.”
Sarganis answered the callout to members because, he said, “As an artist, I thought it would be a creative way to combine my love of Judaism, the Beth Israel Synagogue, collaboration and painting.”
Sarganis became the project’s art director and a lead artist and designer of one of the two Shabbat works.
“I love Shabbat. From Friday evening family dinners; to Shabbat morning services; to the candles, wine, challah and artifacts used – I can simply say I love it,” Sarganis said of his choice of holiday to portray. “The Shabbat panel I designed and painted is an abstracted representation of our family’s candle holders, Kiddush cup and challah cover.”
About the project, he said, “We had a wide range of expertise, from those who don’t paint at all to those who paint a lot. The common thread that kept us going and made this a beautiful group to be a part of was everyone’s passion for the project.
“As a professional artist and someone who has taught at a fine arts school for the past 29 years, it seemed the role of me becoming art director happened organically, it was not something that was there at the start of the project,” he added. “This included helping the designers of the panels with their designs, bringing in tools and equipment to help facilitate the transferring of the designs onto the large panels, advising the groups of painters on the painting process and/or techniques, figuring out (with Reisa) the placement of the panels in the parkade.”
“I really believe that we can beautify the most simple areas to make them more impactful,” said Schwartzman. “Having these windows in the garage makes the experience of going to the BI start right from parking your car. But we didn’t stop there. Krystine McInnes came up with the idea that we should add QR codes to each image so that people could open their phones and learn more about each holiday, the customs and history. We hope we can use these to fight antisemitism as well, or just to help educate. We decided to paint on boards rather than the wall itself so, if needed, we could have them traveling.
“One thing different about our art is that none of the pieces are signed. This was with the commitment that the works were collective, designed and inspired by several artists and painted by the community we built. It is a community effort for our shul.”
While the lead artists aren’t indicated on the murals in the garage, they are credited on the project’s website, bethisraelartproject.com: Beryl Israel (Purim and Tu b’Shevat), Sheila Romalis (Hanukkah), Ramona Josephson (Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot and Shabbat), Debby Koffman (Simchat Torah), Janice Masur (Shavuot), Luca Carati (Yom Hashoah and Yom Yerushalayim), Nassa Selwyn (Pesach and Yom Kippur) and Adele Lewin (Simchat Torah). In addition to the QR code integration, McInnes designed the project website, which features information on the holidays, their history and customs from several sources, including work done by Jean Gerber and Jonathan Berkowitz and a dozen or so websites.
The paint was donated by Benjamin Moore Paint and the boards and framing by Burton Mouldings, said Esther Moses, Beth Israel executive director. Ralph (z’l) and Elaine Schwartzman donated to help make the project possible, she said.
“My parents believe in supporting our community and have always been supporters of several Jewish agencies here and abroad,” explained Schwartzman. “Once they heard about what I wanted to do, my mom called the shul and made a donation to make sure we could complete the project. Supporting the shul, the arts, community and engagement for people are all reasons they stepped forward.”
“I am so proud of Beth Israel and our members who worked on the murals. They are strikingly beautiful,” said Rabbi Jonathan Infeld, the synagogue’s senior spiritual leader. “They bring light to our congregation and are a great educational tool. They brought people together for an important common cause. The murals are another way that we help bring Jews closer to God, Torah and Israel at Beth Israel.”
While he helped, for example, with the Hebrew on one of the works, Infeld admitted, “I am involved in many different aspects and programs of the synagogue, this is one that I did not play a large role in though. Yes, I helped with some of the Jewish content. But anyone who knows my artistic abilities knows why I left this project to others to accomplish.”
The project – which took a total of three years from conception to installation – “was a great way to add colour to our parkade in a meaningful and Jewish way,” said the rabbi. “The murals are educational and exceptionally beautiful. But, most importantly, they created community amongst people of all ages.”
Overall, it has been a huge success, he said. “People love seeing [the murals] when they enter the parkade. They love looking at them and learning from them. I know that the participants loved making them.”
“This project was really a labour of love by all who participated,” agreed Schwartzman. “Peter was incredibly supportive with his knowledge and guidance. There were so many amazing artists that we all learned from each other, helped each other and celebrated together. We really hope that these images bring the shul much enjoyment and support them in any of their programming when possible.”
“This project took a lot of time and work – and was worth every moment,” said Sarganis. “I met some wonderful people, and got to know people I already knew even better. A beautiful community project.”
