Shortly after my daughter Rebecca was born in 1971 and my family moved to Orange Connecticut, I finally found a synagogue that I loved going to and coincided with my Jewish philosophy. I volunteered for many different projects at TE. Among them was remodeling the barn, remodeling the house, serving in many different ways such as; committee member, committee chairperson, helping run Friday night services and the ultimate commitment was becoming president in 1989.
My vocation is in general dentistry and since I like working with my hands as well as my mind in a very confined space, when the opportunity came along to use the art part of art and science and to work in a large format, I decided to attend the Creative
Arts Workshop in New Haven. I took up metal sculpture with my teacher and mentor Ann Lehman.
In 1989, Temple Emanuel started to knock down the barn and build a new sanctuary. When it was basically completed and the interior was being finished, I offered to make the Eternal Lamp. My project was accepted by the aesthetic committee. Subsequent to this project, in my free time I started my Jewish artifact phase of metal sculpture which included many menorahs (one donated to TE) and mezuzahs.
Rita Brieger came to me before Rabbi Jerry Brieger’s z’l birthday and asked if I could create something for the Temple relating to the Rabbi’s favorite passage from the Prophet Micah, addressing the relationship of what a good Jew would do in his daily life. I designed , built and constructed in copper, the words of this quotation and affixed them to the walls of the sanctuary.
It was brought to my attention that there was no outside sign on our new sanctuary building. I went back to my workshop, constructed more letters and attached them to the outside of the building.
Niomi Klotz, after her husband passed away, gave me a copper tray that reminded me of a ten commandments tablet and asked if I could make something of that in honor of her husband, Alan. At the time, people complained that the Shabbat candle wax was getting on the table so I re-purposed the tray to hold the candles. I decorated the tray with cast bronze figures of Torah, candelabra, wine glasses and a challah.
My last project occurred after the free standing house was eliminated and new offices and school were added to the sanctuary. Anne Eisner, who was designing and planting a garden in front of the structure asked if I could create a sculpture for this garden. I built and “planted” a copper and brass flower that never needs watering.